Friday, March 7, 2014Zya Dangles Record Deal, Cash To UsersDo you have what it takes to score a major label record deal? Zya, the mobile music game developed by Music Mastermind, said Friday that it will offer players of the game an opportunity to win a recording contract and $10,000 in cash. According to Music Mastermind--which is based in Calabasas--its new contest will provide $10,000 in cash, tour performances on DigitTour 2015, and a record contract with Emblem Records for players who submit their songs--based on the originality of their songs, plu (More info...)
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Beats Music Courts Developers With New APISanta Monica-based streaming music service Beats Music said Friday that it has opened up its service to software developers, releasing a new application programming interface (API) which lets developers search the Beats Music Catalog, play tracks, create and update playlists, and more. The company--which also opened up a developer site--said the public interfaces it is providing are based on the actual APIs the company has been using itself in developing its service, and that it hopes to tap int (More info...)
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Emotient Gets $6M For Facial Expression RecognitionSan Diego-based Emotient has raised $6M in a funding round, to go towards the company's technology for facial expression recognition, the company said Thursday. The funding was led by new venture capital fund Handbag, which is led by Seth Neiman, and also included Intel Capital. Emotient, whic his led by Ken Denman, develops software which measures the emotions of human faces, which it makes available via an application programming interface (API). Along with the funding, Emotient also said it h (More info...)
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Disney Accelerator In Major OutreachDisney's new startup accelerator--the Disney Accelerator--is in a major promotional and outreach push, saying that it will be launching a tour of Austin, Boston, New York, Palo Alto, London, and San Francisco to raise visibility for the program. Disney is inviting a select number of founders and entrepreneurs, who have interests in the media and entertainment space, to visit with its team at those locations. Disney's accelerator is offering $120,000 in investment capital to startups, plus inside (More info...)
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General Assembly Raises $35M In Funding RoundGeneral Assembly, which conducts classes on web development, Photoshop, Javascript, digital marketing, and all kinds of other topics through its location in Los Angeles, has just scored a $35M funding round, a Series C for the company. The company--which is based in New York--operates a series of schools across the nation to teach digital skills. The new funding was led by Institutional Venture Partners, and also included GSV Capital, Rethink Education, Maveron, and Western Technology Investment (More info...)
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Machinima Lays Off 42Los Angeles-based online content developer Machinima said Thursday that it has laid off 42 people at the company, all from its sales force, as the company continues to struggle with low ad rates and the large chunk of revenues that are claimed by Google from multi-channel networks. The deal apparently comes ahead of a $18M funding round expected from Warner Bros. Machinima has had a series of layoffs, as the MCN has struggled to find the right formula to sustain its content development business (More info...)
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Disney Interactive Chops 700Burbank-based Walt Disney is laying off around 700 employees at Disney Interactive--a quarter of the interactive division--as the company struggles to adapt to the shift to mobile games. The company also is planning on closing a number of its online properties, and scale back in-house game development. Disney Interactive has apparently been a perpetual money loser for Disney.
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Semtech Snags General Counsel From United OnlineCamarillo-based analog and mixed signal semiconductor developer Semtech announced this morning that it has named Charles B. Ammann as its new Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. Ammann was most recently EVP, General Counsel, and Secretary of United Online, and also served at TV Guide, United Video Satellite Group, Flint Industries, and Gable & Gotwals. Semtech said that Ammann is succeeding Randall H. Holliday, who is retiring.
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Fullscreen Appoints Head of ContentLos Angeles-based Fullscreen, the YouTube network founded by George Strompolos, said this week that it has named Ashley Kaplan as Head of Content at the company. Kaplan was most recently Vice President of Digital Content and Strategy for the Magical Elves production company, where she worked on web series Last Chance Kitchens; she also has worked on Logo (Viacom), and was a producer at Current TV. Fullscreen said Kaplan will oversee ongoing production and development of premium content.
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