Eying for a Loud IPO

With the development of numerous streaming media technologies and the
increased availability of high-speed access, the Internet is now a viable
platform for delivery of audio and video media.

However, if you have ever
been disappointed by the quality of the audio and video on the Internet,
Loudeye Technologies should get your attention.

The price range on this IPO is $8-10 and the lead underwriter is Robertson
Stephens. The proposed ticker symbol is LOUD.

Loudeye Technologies Inc. is a leading provider of Internet media
infrastructure services and applications that create a complete solution
for the media, entertainment and enterprise markets. Their proprietary
technologies and processes enable high quality, high volume, platform
neutral processing of significant quantities of digital media.

In plain English, they
simplify and accelerate the process of delivering audio and video content
to the Web. What’s more, the Loudeye technology is built using
open-standards, which should help spread the technology so as to make it a
standard.

It is no surprise there has been an increased momentum of audio and video
demand for the Internet. This demand is specifically highlighted by the
presence of over 50 million MP3 capable users today (Forrester Research
Inc.). Also, according to IDC, there were over 140 million video digital
players downloaded by Internet users.

Loudeye has, so to speak, caught the “eye” of top entertainment
enterprises, which include BMG Music, Disney Enterprises, Inc., Hewlett
Packard, Microsoft Corp., and Sony Music Entertainment.

Loudeye was formed in August of 1997 under the name encoding.com, LLC and
incorporated in March 1998 as encoding.com, Inc. In December 1999 they
changed their name to Loudeye Technologies, Inc. They have grown their
total revenues from $285,635 in 1998 to $2.6 million in 1999. Although,
the company has an accumulated deficit of $12.6 million.

But the company has serious equity investors. They include AOL, CBS,
Microsoft, NBC and Akamai. Moreover, Loudeye has been making acquisitions,
such as for Alive.com (a digital media applications developer) and Valley
media (a digital media clip service).

As more and more Internet users have access to high-speed modems, we will
see a greater saturation of digital audio/video multimedia. Loudeye will
be there to benefit.

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