We introduce the spaces Vℬp(X) (respectively 𝒱ℬp(X)) of the vector measures ℱ:Σ→X of bounded (p,ℬ)-variation (respectively of bounded (p,ℬ)-semivariation) with respect to a bounded bilinear map ℬ:X×Y →Z and show that the spaces Lℬp(X) consisting of functions which are p-integrable with respect to ℬ, defined in by Blasco and Calabuig [‘Vector-valued functions integrable with respect to bilinear maps’, Taiwanese Math. J. to appear], are isometrically embedded in Vℬp(X). We characterize 𝒱ℬp(X) in terms of bilinear maps from Lp′×Y into Z and Vℬp(X) as a subspace of operators from Lp′(Z*) into Y*. Also we define the notion of cone absolutely summing bilinear maps in order to describe the (p,ℬ)-variation of a measure in terms of the cone-absolutely summing norm of the corresponding bilinear map from Lp′×Y into Z.