Loudeye Announces Agreement with America Online

Loudeye Technologies (www.loudeye.com) has announced an agreement with America Online ( www.aol.com) to provide AOL with music samples, music catalog encoding and metadata services.

As part of the multi-year agreement, Loudeye will provide comprehensive digital media services including the encoding of AOL's Spinner.com music library. In addition, Loudeye states that it will provide the digital content metadata, enabling AOL to offer a more robust music experience for its listeners.

There was no reference in the release, though, to the upcoming MusicNet service, that will be distributed on AOL among other sites.

"The AOL agreement demonstrates Loudeye's value to major media and entertainment companies seeking expertise and technology to leverage digital media in their business,'' said John T. Baker, Loudeye's chief executive officer.

The announcement has provided a small boost to Loudeye's stock, which as of 2 p.m. EST was up 34.26 percent to $1.45 per share.