
Get in the KNOW
on LA Startups & Tech
XLast Updated: 7/3/20
Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use information from and about you when you interact with us online (e.g., by using our websites or other online products and services) or offline (e.g., when you attend our sponsored events) (collectively, our "Services"). This policy explains more about how we use cookies and similar technologies and the choices you have concerning their use
What Are Cookies?
Like most companies, we use cookies and similar technologies to remember things about you so that we can provide you with a better experience.
Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to HTTP cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
Cookies are small data files stored on your browser or device. They may be served by the entity that operates the website you are visiting ("first-party cookies") or by other companies ("third-party cookies"). For example, we partner with third-party analytics providers, like Google, which set cookies when you visit our websites. This helps us understand how you are using our Services so that we can improve them. These cookies may be "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until it is set to expire or deleted by the user prior to the expiration date; a session cookie will expire at the end of the user session when the web browser is closed.
IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) is the address assigned by internet providers to every computer connected on the internet. Website and service owners have access to the IP Address for their users. Using the IP Address, we and our partners can identify the country, state, and city from which a computer is connecting to the internet. IP Addresses are used for IP Geolocation purposes, e.g. by Google Analytics.
Local storage allows data to be stored locally on your browser or device and includes HTML5 local storage and browser cache.
Pixels are small images on a web page or in an email. Pixels collect information about your browser or device and can set cookies.
Unique Device ID is a unique series of numbers and letters assigned to your device.
Web beacons are small graphic images or other web programming code called web beacons (also known as "1×1 GIFs" or "clear GIFs") and may be included in our websites' pages and messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a page or e-mail can act as a web beacon.
Below, we refer to cookies and similar technologies collectively as "Cookies."How Do We Use Cookies?
We use Cookies for a number of reasons, like helping us understand which features are most popular, counting visitors to a page, improving our users' experience, keeping our Services secure and generally providing you with a better experience. The Cookies we use generally fall into one of the following categories:
Category of Cookies | Why we use these Cookies |
Technical | These Cookies are essential for our Services to function properly. Like the other Cookies we use, technical Cookies may be either first-party Cookies or third-party Cookies. |
Preference | We use these Cookies to remember your settings and preferences as you use our Services. |
Security | We use these Cookies to help identify and prevent security risks. |
Performance | We use these Cookies to collect information about how you interact with our Services and to help us improve them. For example, we may use these Cookies to determine if you have interacted with a certain page. |
Analytics | We use these Cookies to help us understand and improve our Services. For example, we can use these Cookies to learn more about which features are the most popular with our users and where we may need to make improvements. |
What Choices Do I Have?
You have options to control or limit how we and our partners use Cookies.
- Although most browsers and devices accept Cookies by default, their settings usually allow you to clear or decline Cookies. If you disable Cookies, however, some of the features of our Services may not function properly.
- To prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics, you can install Google's opt-out browser add-on.
We will not use Cookies for any purpose other than those described in this policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about our use of Cookies, please contact us at admin@dot.la.
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
Snap Says It Will Miss Earnings Targets, Slow Down Hiring
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Snap warned on Monday that it will likely report lower-than-expected revenues and profits this quarter—a revelation that sent the social media firm’s stock price plunging by 30%.
“The macroeconomic environment has deteriorated further and faster than anticipated,” Snap disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “As a result, we believe it is likely that we will report revenue and adjusted EBITDA below the low end of our [second quarter] 2022 guidance range.”
The Santa Monica-based company was already bracing for another challenging quarter due to economic headwinds like inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it said have harmed the digital advertising market. Snap, which generates virtually all of its revenue from ads, is also still grappling with Apple’s decision to restrict how users are tracked on mobile devices.
As a result of the gloomy outlook, Snap is set to slow down on hiring. The company now plans to hire another 500 new employees through the end of this year, compared to the 900 employees who have already accepted offers this year and the 2,000 people it added over the last 12 months, according to The Verge, which cited a memo from Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.
“Our most meaningful gains over the coming months will come as a result of improved productivity from our existing team members,” Spiegel wrote in his note to staff.
Snap’s shares subsequently fell more than 30% in after-hours trading, to $15.71 as of 4:45 p.m. Pacific Time. The company’s stock closed Monday’s trading at $22.47—down 52% since the start of this year and 73% off its 52-week high in September. (Disclosure: Snap is an investor in dot.LA.)
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Halsey Blasts Record Label for ‘Fake Viral’ TikTok Requirement
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
The singer Halsey has claimed that their record label is requiring TikTok momentum before letting them release new music, in comments that draw attention to the video-sharing app’s growing influence over the music industry.
In a TikTok video released Sunday, Halsey claimed the Astralwerks-Capitol label will not allow them to release their latest song until “they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” Halsey played the song in the background as they said that “basically every artist these days” is stuck waiting for TikTok virality as they plan music releases. In a subsequent series of Tweets, Halsey said that their TikTok video ironically going viral has not yet resulted in a release date, despite the song having been ready for a month.
The response has ranged from people viewing the video as a disingenuous marketing scheme meant to gain sympathy to others expressing support for the musician.
“Our belief in Halsey as a singular and important artist is total and unwavering,” an Astralwerks-Capitol rep told Variety. “We can’t wait for the world to hear their brilliant new music.”
Other musicians have recently expressed similar complaints. Ahead of Adele’s 2021 album, the singer said she shot down her team’s request to share her new music on TikTok. But few in the industry have Adele’s reach, and artists like Florence Welch, Ed Sheeran and FKA Twigs have all taken to TikTok at their labels' behest.
In April, Lizzo released her latest single “About Damn Time” on TikTok with an accompanying dance; the audio has since been used in over 1 million videos on the app, while the song made it to no. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other music artists are using TikTok stars to promote their material, with singer Harry Styles tapping influencer Brittany Broski to take over his social media ahead of his recent concert.
As artists can now grow their audiences on social media without relying on traditional mainstream media, it’s clear that TikTok has disrupted the industry. Take Lil Nas X, who used the app to promote "Old Town Road" and was up for five Grammy awards this year. On occasion, a short singing clip can even lead labels to sign new artists, as was the case with Australian singer Peach PRC.
A viral moment on TikTok can also take an unknown song or music project to new heights. “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” a passion project started on the platform, beat theater legend Andrew Lloyd Webber to take home a Grammy earlier this year. Having bought the rights to Universal Music Group’s catalog and launched a platform that would allow artists to monetize their music uploaded to the app, TikTok is certainly leaning into its industry impact.
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Activision Blizzard Workers Win Union Vote
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
Workers at Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software won their labor union vote today—a move that certifies the first union at a major video game publisher in the U.S., and one that could potentially transform the Santa Monica-based game developer that Microsoft is paying $69 billion to acquire.
Twenty-two employees at Wisconsin-based Raven voted 19-to-3 in favor of ratifying their Game Workers Alliance union in a National Labor Relations Board-sponsored election on Monday. The Raven workers—who do quality assurance testing for popular Activision titles like “Call of Duty”—formed the Game Workers Alliance in January and proceeded with the vote after Activision refused to voluntarily recognize the union.
The vote marks the first time that employees at a AAA game publisher in the U.S. have successfully unionized their workplace. It could also be a key step toward unionizing the rest of Activision’s 10,000-person workforce—something that Raven labor organizers told dot.LA earlier this year is part of their larger plan.
“We respect and believe in the right of all employees to decide whether or not to support or vote for a union,” Activision spokesperson Talia Ron told dot.LA in an email Monday. “We believe that an important decision that will impact the entire Raven Software studio of roughly 350 people should not be made by 19 Raven employees.”
None of Activision’s major competitors, such as West Los Angeles-based Riot Games, have unionized employees. Across the entire video game industry, only indie studio Vodeo Games has a labor union—one which became the first certified game workers’ union in North America last year.
“This is a huge win for not only the gaming industry but AAA gaming, because this is the first studio you're seeing out of a AAA [publisher] actually unionizing,” labor organizer and former Activision quality assurance tester Jessica Gonazlez told dot.LA.
Pro-union Activision employees have long felt that an organized workplace could provide the muscle they need to address issues that have plagued the company and their industry at large—from long, grueling work hours to sexual harassment and discrimination. “I'm very, very hopeful that this is going to be part of a larger wave of unionizing in the video game industry as a whole,” Gonzalez added.
While Microsoft executives have said that the Seattle tech giant won’t stand in the way of union efforts at Activision, the game developer has taken steps perceived as anti-union among its workers—such as leaving Raven Software employees out of a pay bump for quality assurance testers and proposing contract language that would prevent workers from organizing. Raven workers began organizing after walking off the job in December in protest of Activision’s decision to lay off 12 quality assurance contractors.
In a statement, Sara Steffens, secretary-treasurer for the Communications Workers of America labor union backing Raven’s Game Workers Alliance, said “Activision did everything it could, including breaking the law, to try to prevent the Raven QA workers from forming their union.”
“Quality assurance workers at Raven Software are bringing much-needed change to Activision and to the video game industry,” Steffens said. “At this critical time for the company and its employees, these workers will soon have an enforceable union contract and a voice on the job.”
- Labor Union Urges SEC to Investigate Activision Over Filing - dot.LA ›
- Activision Leaves Union Workers Out of Game Testers' Pay Raise ... ›
- Microsoft Says It Won't Block Activision Labor Unions - dot.LA ›
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him