When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess this is a sign of the times. The Scott Sanfilippo Interview Media Optimization Firms Are Red Hot In Southern California in 2009

Santa Monica-based Topspin Media , the developer of music and band marketing software headed by former Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers, said over the weekend that it has added Andrew Mains as its new VP Artist Relations and Services. The firm has received venture funding from Redpoint Ventures and The Foundry Group. Mains was Head of New Media at Interscope Records. The firm said that Mains will help artists find their way to the firm's platform.

Topspin Media , the high profile, Santa Monica-based music startup headed by former Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers, has inked a deal with independent music promoter INgrooves. Topspin is venture backed by Redpoint Ventures and The Foundry Group. INgrooves and Topspin said that Topspin will provide its marketing software to INgrooves' artists and labels, as part of an enterprise marketing service deals. Topspin has developed software which helps music artists to market and distribute their music, helping aspiring and established artists to publish, sell, and reach their fans

Santa Monica-based Topspin Media , the online music startup of former Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers, said today that the firm has inked a deal with Berkleemusic.com, the online continuing education division of the Berklee College of Music, to partner on a set of online music courses. Topspin is backed by the Foundry Group and Redpoint Ventures. According to Topspin, the two will work together to develop online music courses designed to teach artists, managers and labels on effective use of Topspin's platform. The firm said it will release its first online course, "Marketing

Today, high profile music startup Topspin–located in Santa Monica–said it is looking for a  VP of Engineering for the 25 people in its engineering team (Topspin Media is the Redpoint and Foundry-backed music startup headed by former Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers, who we interviewed a few months ago). Still worried about your job in this economy? Don’t worry, if you’re a good software engineer or software manager.

Late Friday night, a Silicon Valley firm, Meru Networks , whose major backer is Santa Monica-based Clearstone Ventures filed for an IPO . Another local venture capital firm, Redpoint Ventures ,  which is split between Los Angeles and Palo Alto, also has a portfolio firm in the IPO lineup, Solyndra (also in the Bay Area). Full disclaimer: both Clearstone and Redpoint have or are current sponsors of socalTECH, though There’s a lot of folks gambling on the IPO market this week, with a bunch of IPO news — both from local VCs as well as one local company.

gid=17912753952 , twitter.com/thursdaylunch Self-description: "If you are ever in Santa Monica on a Thursday, join us for lunch on the 3rd Street Promenade. Interested first timers, please contact Eric Hammond so you're not a stranger when you show up. " Frequency/Location: Thursdays at Noon / "Meet on the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade just South of Santa Monica Blvd." Weekly updates! Please let me know if know of other items to add, or if you have any feedback on events. There's a promising new weekly morning networking event unlike any

Ian Rogers is the CEO of Topspin Media (www.topspinmedia.com), a venture backed, Santa Monica-based startup developing web applications for the music industry. Topspin is backed by Redpoint Ventures and The Foundry Group. Rogers is the former GM of Yahoo Music, and sat down with us to talk about the company and his view of the music business and where it is going. What's What's the idea behind Topspin Media? Ian