Loudeye Technologies Unveils Online Music Sample Service

SEATTLE —  Loudeye Technologies Inc., whose software makes it easier to convert audio and pictures on the Web, Tuesday unveiled a new service to give Web sites and online music retailers access to tens of thousands of song clips.

The service, called Loudeye Media Subscription Services, is part of the company’s push from simply converting audio and video into Web-ready formats to helping distribute the content over the Internet.

The first part of the service will focus on music clips, making samples of all genres of songs from several major music labels available to companies such as Web portals and music retailers setting up shop online, said Peter Kellogg-Smith, Loudeye vice president of marketing.

Seattle-based Loudeye also said it signed a deal with record label BMG, a unit of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, to license music clips from its catalog for inclusion in the service.

BMG is the third major label, along with Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music and Universal Music Group, a unit of France-based Vivendi Universal, to sign such a deal with Loudeye.

Loudeye’s stock price has tumbled from a 52-week high of $54 to a low of $1.38. Tuesday, it rose 41 cents to close at $2.59 on Nasdaq.

Kellogg-Smith said he expected music business players to eventually thrive.

The music samples service was being launched as a test product and will be released in a final version in the first half of next year, Kellogg-Smith said.