AUDDIA INC. 10-K

Item 1. Business Overview of Auddia Auddia is a technology company headquartered in Boulder, CO that is reinventing how consumers engage with audio through the development of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts. Auddia is leveraging these technologies within its industry-first audio Superapp, faidr (previously known as the Auddia App). faidr gives consumers the opportunity to listen to any AM/FM radio station with no commercials while personalizing the listening experience through skips and the insertion of on-demand content, including popular and new music, news, and weather. The faidr app represents the first-time consumers can combine the local content uniquely provided by AM/FM radio with commercial-free and personalized listening many consumers demand from digital-media consumption. In addition to commercial-free AM/FM, faidr includes podcasts and exclusive content, branded faidrRadio, which includes new artist discovery, curated music stations, and Music Casts. Music Casts are unique to faidr. Hosts and DJs can combine on-demand talk segments with dynamic music streaming, which allows users to hear podcasts with full music track plays embedded in the episodes. Auddia has also developed a podcasting platform that provides a unique suite of tools that helps Podcasters create additional digital content for their podcast episodes as well as plan their episodes, build their brand, and monetize their content with new content distribution channels. This podcast platform also gives users the ability to go deeper into the stories through supplemental, digital content, and eventually comment and contribute their own content to episode feeds. Both of Auddia’s offerings address large and rapidly growing audiences. The Company has developed its AI platform on top of Google’s TensorFlow open-source library that is being “taught” to know the difference between all types of audio content on the radio. For instance, the platform recognizes the difference between a commercial and a song and is learning the differences between all other content to include weather reports, traffic, news, sports, DJ conversation, etc. Not only does the technology learn the differences between the various types of audio segments, but it also identifies the beginning and end of each piece of content. The Company is leveraging this technology platform within its premium AM/FM radio listening experience through the faidr App. The faidr App is intended to be downloaded by consumers who will pay a subscription fee in order to listen to any streaming AM/FM radio station without commercials, podcasts and the faidrRadio exclusive content offerings. Advanced features will allow consumers to skip any content heard on the station, request audio content on-demand, and program an audio routine. We believe the faidr App represents a significant differentiated audio streaming product, or Superapp, that will be the first to come to market since the emergence of popular streaming music apps such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc. We believe that the most significant point of differentiation is that in addition to ad-free AM/FM streaming, the faidr App is intended to deliver non-music content that includes local sports, news, weather, traffic and the discovery of new music alongside exclusive programming and podcasts. No other radio streaming app available today, including category leaders like TuneIn, iHeart, and Audacy, can compete with faidr’s full product offerings. The Company commissioned two separate surveys to establish subscription pricing in accordance with an industry standard pricing analysis. Results of both surveys, which included nearly 3,000 responses, suggested $12/month as the optimal price to maximize revenue and $7.99 to maximize market share and indicated that 29% of respondents were at least likely to subscribe to the product. The majority of respondents who self-identified as being listeners to paid services such as SiriusXM and streaming radio indicated a likely intent to purchase. We believe this implies a preference for the local content inherent in AM/FM broadcasting. The Company launched all major U.S. radio stations on its faidr App on February 15, 2022. 1 The Company has also developed its podcasting platform, which leverages technologies and proven product concepts to differentiate its podcasts offering from other competitors in the radio streaming product category. With podcasting growing and predicted to grow at a rapid rate, the Auddia podcast platform was conceptualized to fill a void in the emerging audio media space. The platform aims to be the preferred podcasting solution for podcasters by enabling them to deliver digital content feeds that match the audio of their podcast episodes, and by enabling podcasters to make additional revenue from new digital advertising channels; subscription channels; on-demand fees for exclusive content; and through direct donations from their listeners. Today, podcasters do not have a preference as to where their listeners access their episodes, as virtually all listening options (mobile apps and web players) deliver only their podcast audio. By creating a platform on which they can make net new and higher margin revenue, we believe that podcasters will promote faidr to their listeners, thus creating a powerful, organic marketing dynamic. One innovative and proprietary part of the podcast platform is the availability of tools to create and distribute an interactive digital feed which supplements podcast episode audio with additional digital. These content feeds allow podcasters to tell deeper stories to their listeners while giving podcasters access to digital revenue for the first time. Podcasters will be able to build these interactive feeds using The Podcast Hub, a content management system that also serves as a tool to plan and manage podcast episodes. The digital feed activates a new digital ad channel that turns every audio ad into a direct-response, relevant-to-the-story, digital ad, increasing the effectiveness and value of their established audio ad model. The feed also presents a richer listening experience, as any element of a podcast episode can be supplemented with images, videos, text and web links. This feed will appear fully synchronized in the faidr mobile App, and it also can be hosted and accessed independently (e.g., through any browser), making the content feed universally distributable. Over time, users will be able to comment, and podcasters will be able to grant some users publishing rights to add content directly into the feed on their behalf. This will create another first for podcasting, a dialog between creator and fan, synchronized to the episode content. The podcast capabilities within faidr will also introduce a unique and industry first multi-channel, highly flexible set of revenue channels that podcasters can activate in combination to allow listeners to choose how they want to consume and pay for content. “Flex Revenue” allows podcasters to continue to run their standard audio ad model and complement those ads with direct response enabled digital ads in each episode content feed, increasing the value of advertising on any podcast. “Flex Revenue” will also activate subscriptions, on-demand fees for content (e.g., listen without audio ads for a micro payment fee) and direct donations from listeners. Using these channels in combination, podcasters can maximize revenue generation and exercise higher margin monetization models, beyond basic audio advertising. faidr is available today through the iOS and Android app stores. Recent Developments On March 16, 2023, the Company announced the following recent results for its products: · A 10% user subscription conversion rate since launching subscriptions in its iOS only app 45 days previously. · faidrRadio, the Company’s exclusive content programming available in the iOS faidr app, has maintained 33% of the app’s total plays alongside traditional AM/FM radio. · The Company has continued to make significant progress in cost per installs, a top metric for indicating consumer interest in the faidr product. Across the combined iOS and Android platforms, the Company is on track to reach its mid-2023 target of $1.80 cost per install. 2 History of Auddia The Company was originally formed in 2012 as Clip Interactive, LLC to provide the broadcast radio industry with digital consumer products (mobile apps and web applications) that increased radio listener engagement and generated new revenue for radio stations from digital ads synchronized to the audio ad. In late 2017 the Company recognized a need to provide the radio industry with a new capability that would allow for a more efficient business model, similar to the subscription models that had emerged for music and video through companies like Apple, Spotify, SiriusXM and Netflix. The Company began to conceptualize what would become Auddia, a commercial-free subscription platform for broadcasters and radio listeners. Management of the Company commenced evaluating essential aspects of the opportunity such as technical feasibility, consumer viability, basic economics, intellectual property matters and basic legality. The Company’s Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer all have experience in performing similar assessments for consumer facing products in various industries, including elections, gaming, secure document processing, and digital advertising. Further, our Executive Chairman has extensive experience developing strategy and determining business viability of products in the several previous companies that he founded. Management’s assessment also included metrics from subscription platforms for broadcast audio content, which show that consumers are willing to pay a subscription fee for commercial-free audio content. For example, SiriusXM, Inc. offers a service that demonstrates the viability of a commercial-free broadcast audio product that is purchased by consumers, in their case, for an average $13 (estimated) per month. SiriusXM has 34.6 million subscribers (end of 2020) at this average price point. SiriusXM does not offer the local content and personalities that local broadcast radio exclusively delivers. In early 2018 and over the period of next year, management analyzed and assessed the commercial viability of the proposed faidr platform to determine whether a subscription-based commercial free radio service would generate consumer interest. This assessment was based upon: (a) the Company’ experience in having developed, deployed and operated over 580 mobile apps for broadcast radio companies over the last seven years; (b) discussions of the Auddia concept with radio industry leaders, most of whom were our current or previous customers; (c) discussions with radio industry analysts; and (d) research into the state of broadcast and subscription radio industries. As part of the management assessment, in January of 2019, we commenced discussions with a Harris Insights and Analytics, LLC (“Harris”), to assist management in gauging consumer response to our planned service, and in March of 2019 we commissioned Harris to conduct a survey. The results of that survey, when integrated with our internally developed analysis, supported our conclusion of consumer interest and viability of the product. Harris asked consumers to answer a variety of questions exploring their interest in such a service; how much they would be willing to pay; and several other related topics. Our interpretation of the results of the survey, also supported our assessment that consumers will continue to listen to local radio channels, and they are willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to avoid commercials. Based upon management’s analysis, the above discussions, and industry research, the Company concluded that a subscription product for local radio’s audio content, where commercials are removed, was of great interest to the radio broadcast industry. Further, the Company also concluded that consumers would be interested in subscribing to commercial free local audio content that only local radio produces and broadcasts, and that faidr would have commercial viability. The Company’s podcast platform was conceptualized during this transition period described above, when management recognized the opportunity to leverage previously developed technology and mobile app capabilities to provide products to podcasters and podcast listeners in the burgeoning podcasting space. Having provided interactive digital content feeds for radio stations for several years, a similar product for podcasting was explored. The Company presented a product concept to podcasters and podcaster “rep firms” and sufficient interest from those explorations warranted the development of a minimally viable mobile app product, branded Vodacast. Eventually, with further support and interest from prospect podcasters and listeners, the product was expanded to include both iOS and Android mobile apps and the development of the podcast Hub, which is the platform’s content management system. 3 The Company was poised to execute early, small-scale marketing trials in which podcasters would promote the Vodcast mobile app to their listeners via the audio of their podcast episodes. The incentive for podcasters to promote Vodacast came from the monetization features that are inherent on the platform, where podcasters understand that a “download” or unique listening session would generate more revenue for podcasters when it occurs on the Vodcast mobile app. The expectation was that listeners will convert at sufficiently high rates to justify wide scale launch and broad promotion by podcasters. After the launch of the proof-of-concept Vodacast app, and monitoring engagement and retention for close to a year, Auddia was confident the podcast platform achieved differentiation and should be moved into the company’s audio Superapp faidr as the podcast offering. Overview of the Evolving Audio Ecosystem and the Positioning of AM/FM Broadcast Radio We believe that audio as a medium is experiencing a renaissance as advanced artificial intelligence capabilities such as voice recognition are ushering in an era where voice is becoming the most efficient interface to interact with audio and video content. Historically, audio has been a passive medium where content is selected by a professional program director and delivered to large audiences who have no choice in personalizing the delivered content. But audio is now transitioning to an active medium where consumers can interact with streaming content through advanced algorithms and feedback mechanisms that include skipping content, providing thumbs up and thumbs down input, sharing content socially, creating playlists, following other playlists and customizing the programming of content routines for specific parts of the day through smart speakers like Alexa ( e.g., providing a morning routine). Advanced artificial intelligence capabilities are facilitating these new capabilities and accelerating the trend towards consumer consumption of on-demand personalized content. To support this trend, audio content needs to be understood, indexed, stored and made retrievable through search methods so it can be provided to consumers when they ask for particular content. Broadcast radio remains the dominant force in audio. The 2022 Share of Ear Study shows broadcast radio with a 39% share of listening and the next most popular form of listening being music videos on YouTube at 14% followed by owned music at 10%. Although AM/FM radio continues to dominate audio listening, streaming audio is the fastest growing segment according to Share of Ear studies going back to 2014. We believe streaming audio will continue to grow as on-demand content in the form of streaming music podcasting, short-form audio and other emerging formats of audio content become more prevalent and artificial intelligence technologies facilitate the introduction of new and improved listening experiences. As streaming audio has demonstrated its growth trajectory, AM/FM radio has responded by streaming their radio stations but with, we believe, very little success in comparison to the streaming music players as measured by consumer listening. 4 Most common streaming platforms in the U.S. offer a paid subscription model to eliminate or reduce advertisements during the listening experience. With very few exceptions, AM/FM radio has not adopted this model to date. Most AM/FM streams are simulcasts of the on-air station and carry the same advertisement load as the on-air product. In 2020, the average advertisement load was 16.7 minutes per hour (an increase of approximately 2 30-second ads from 2018’s average of 16.1 minutes). This means that if these 16.7 minutes were filled with the common 30-second spot, this would equate to 33.4 advertisements per hour. Given that the free ad-supported tiers of the music streaming services commonly limit ads to 4 per hour, a streaming service with 32 audio ads per hour is more disruptive to the content listening experience. We believe the combination of AM/FM radio’s advertisement load and the inability for listeners to skip content or request on-demand content in an AM/FM radio stream is the main reason broadcast radio is not gaining ground in the audio streaming market relative to the other music players. There are a handful of successful radio-streaming mobile applications on the market today. Between the top five, there are more than 150 million users, which includes some overlap. According to Statista, the reach of online radio, which includes AM/FM streaming, has increased sharply over the past decade, with 68% of the US population having listened to online radio within a month in 2021 compared to only 34% ten years earlier. This migration of audience is expected to continue. The total addressable market for radio streaming is expanding year-over-year, and faidr is the only app currently available that can (1) provide ad-free listening and (2) can aggregate all stations in the US in one place, as it is not beholden to any exclusivity deals with the larger AM/FM media corporations. The Company believes the faidr App will give subscribers the technology solution they need to enjoy the local content presented by AM/FM radio while not only avoiding the interruption of 16.7 minutes of ads per hour, but also personalizing the listening experience with skips and on-demand content. We believe the faidr App represents the consumer product that modernizes the radio-listening experience, combines AM/FM with the right mix of other content options—podcasts and exclusive content and programming—and gives users the control they expect in the current audio-streaming landscape. Overview of Podcasting in the Audio Ecosystem Another area of significant change within the broader audio ecosystem, we believe, is that podcasting is an emerging new type of audio media and that there are opportunities to develop new forms of content consumption, distribution, and monetization around this new form of audio media. With more than 120 million monthly listeners in the U.S. in 2022, podcasting has exploded within a relatively short period of time. Yet the core offering of a podcast is still very basic, including only audio content for the listener and leveraging audio advertising (embedded within the podcast episode content) as the primary and often exclusive mechanism for generating revenue. Like AM/FM radio, podcasting is ripe for disruption by third parties that bring new and expanded revenue models to the industry. Additionally, we believe podcasting is still in its infancy and because of that, opportunities exist to improve the overall media creation and consumption experience for podcasters and listeners alike, and that these improvements can create new channels of revenue for content creators. By leveraging more than six years of experience delivering synchronized digital content feeds for radio stations through their mobile apps and web players, the Company believes that basic podcasting audio, as a generic form of audio media, can be enhanced to provide a better content experience for listeners while providing a more robust platform on which podcasters as content creators can more effectively monetize their work. Software Products and Services The faidr App The faidr App is our flagship product and is expected to generate the majority of the Company’s future revenue. How the faidr App Works A faidr subscriber will select a specific streaming radio station to record and be able to listen to the recording of that station in a customized manner. The App will record the station in real time and its AI algorithm will identify the beginning and end of audio content segments including music and commercials. When the recorded station is played back by the App subscriber, faidr will identify the audio content segments the user chooses not to consume and automatically switch the audio playback of the recording to a different piece of audio content. For example, if a consumer chooses not to listen to commercials during the playback of their recording of a station, the faidr App will automatically cover the commercial segments with other content such as additional music. 5 The Company is developing strategies and content relationships to access additional content sources to cover commercials and respond to skips across many content segments in addition to music and commercials, such as sports, news, talk and weather. As the audio content ecosystem continues to expand, the Company believes faidr will represent an attractive distribution platform for content providers. There is no guarantee the audio content ecosystem will continue to expand along its current trajectory or that the Company will be able to secure access to content in an economically advantageous manner, both of which would negatively impact the user experience within faidr. The Company has not yet secured the rights from content providers to place any audio content into the platform in an on-demand use case. Users of faidr can also access any podcast that’s publicly available as well as exclusive programming, music stations and Music Casts, through faidrRadio. The faidr App is built on a proprietary artificial intelligence platform developed and owned by the Company and subject to one issued patent and additional patent applications that are pending. Copyright Law To secure the rights to stream music and other content through the faidr app, the Company may enter into license agreements with copyright owners of sound recordings and musical works or their authorized agents. In June 2021, the Company filed a Notice of Use of Sound Recordings Under Statutory License in accordance with 37 CFR § 370.2, which authorized the Company to make noninteractive digital audio transmissions and reproductions of certain sound recordings pursuant to the statutory licenses set forth in 17 U.S.C. §§ 112 and 114. The Company is also in the process of obtaining licenses with the performing rights organizations (“PROs”) in the United States, which negotiate blanket licenses with copyright users for the public performance of compositions in their repertory, collect royalties under such licenses, and distribute those royalties to copyright owners. The faidr App’s architecture presents a built-in digital audio recorder (“DAR”) that will allow consumers to record third-party transmissions made available through the faidr App. The Company believes such consumer-initiated recordings are authorized as non-infringing, fair use time shifting by consumers pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. , 464 U.S. 417 (1984). The Supreme Court also ruled that the manufacturers of home video recording devices were not liable for reproductions made by consumers where the devices had substantial non-infringing uses. faidr’s DAR is analogous to the Betamax television recorders found non-infringing in the Universal City Studios decision. With the faidr’s DAR, users can select radio stations to record. Users can also control their listening experience by deciding whether they will listen to commercials or other programming categories selected by the user. The Company believes giving users the ability to avoid commercials is protected, non-infringing activity. If a court were to hold that one or more functionalities offered by the faidr App resulted in the violation of protected rights of third parties, the Company could be subject to liability for infringement, the damages for which could be material. Podcast Platform Auddia’s Podcast Platform, which includes the Vodacast mobile app, is an interactive podcasting platform the Company has built that allows podcasters to give their audiences an interactive audio experience. Podcast listeners are able to see video and other digital content that correlates with the podcast audio and is presented to the listener as a digital feed. All content presented in the digital feed can be synched to the podcast audio content. This allows podcast listeners to visually experience, interact with, and eventually comment on audio content in podcasts. Much of the technology we use in this platform to create the feed of digital content synchronized to the audio content of the podcast is based on the core functionality and product concepts the Company has used historically to provide synchronized digital feeds to over 580 radio stations. 6 The digital feed introduces a new digital revenue stream to podcasters, such as synchronized digital advertising while providing end users a new digital content channel that compliments the core audio channel of the podcast. Below are hypothetical screenshots for a generic Podcast. The image on the right is an example of an episode feed in the Vodacast mobile app while the image on the left is an example of a typical user experience of a podcast episode in most other listening apps. Within the Vodacast episode feed, digital ads can be placed to drive revenue. All of the content and functionality that is made available within the Podcast Platform, through the Vodacast mobile app, is currently being added to the faidr app, diversifying the podcast offering of faidr and bringing that app up to parity with the major, competing apps like iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Audacy. Business Model and Customer Acquisition Strategy for faidr The Company has an eight-year plus history of working closely with the broadcast radio industry in the United States to help the industry adapt to both digital advertising and digital media technologies. The Company announced several broadcast radio partnerships during 2021 in which we performed commercial trials within these markets. Based on the initial results from our commercial trials, the Company believes consumers are drawn to an interruption-free radio experience. We executed a full launch in February 2022 that initially included approximately 4,000 radio stations on the faidr App. The Company has continued to add stations to the App which now presents more than 6,200 AM/FM streams. Radio stations owned by broadcasters will be economically incentivized to promote faidr to their listeners. We intend to leverage subscription revenue to compensate participating radio broadcasters for promotional support and their increased music streaming fees. We believe that if participating broadcasters can generate increased revenue from their content, they can decrease their on-air advertising load while increasing the price paid for each commercial, as the commercial is more likely to be heard by consumers in a less cluttered advertising environment. In addition, we intend to offer tiered subscriptions to the faidr App where lower priced subscriptions allow a lower level of functionality and control. We believe that our history and existing relationships with broadcast radio will drive customer acquisition for the faidr App. Our business model is based on creating a pool of subscription revenue across all streaming stations and other content providers utilizing the faidr platform. This subscription pool, less direct subscriber acquisition costs and increased music streaming fees, is expected to be shared with radio stations and other content providers based on the time each listener spends listening to a station on faidr. We believe this business model will result in broadcasters promoting the listening of their stations within faidr, similar to how radio stations are currently using airtime to promote the listening of their stations on Alexa and other smart speaker systems. 7 The podcast platform, once implemented in faidr, will be marketed to podcasters and podcasting companies with business-to-business strategies that focus on communicating the value proposition. The potential to earn new, incremental revenue on the faidr platform, in addition to the other key value propositions of the platform, is expected to organically drive podcasters to promote the platform directly to their listeners. Direct-to-consumer marketing will be done independently by the Company and, in some cases, in partnership with podcasters who leverage their audio content programs to promote to their established audiences. As is the case with other proven marketing strategies, we intend to have our partners benefit from a participative revenue share, higher ad revenue, and higher margins on advertising through the Vodacast platform. Our Legacy Interactive Radio Platform From 2014 through 2020, the Company was successful in deploying our legacy platform across 580 major radio stations and 1.6 million monthly active users. Although this represents a meaningful user base, it is a small fraction of the listening audience represented by the 580 stations on the Company’s legacy platform. We believe the two main reasons radio was not able to drive more users to the platform are that the number of consumers willing to download an individual radio station app is small and that to appeal to a greater digital audience the core listening experience of radio needs to incorporate a premium offering that includes skips, on-demand content and a commercial-free option. The Company’s legacy product served the broadcast industry by providing a platform that allowed for the delivery of actionable digital ads that are synchronized with broadcast and streaming audio ads. Broadcasters offered mobile and web digital interfaces to their listeners, typically for their individual stations. Our Interactive Radio Platform provided mobile and web products that provided end users (listeners) with a visual display of everything a radio station has played in recent history (referred to as a “station feed”). In addition to displaying album art for songs played, and digital insertions for station promotions and programs (e.g., a radio station contest), the station feed also included a digital element for each audio ad that was played. These interactive, synchronized digital ads generate additional revenue for broadcasters and allow for the collection of meaningful advertising analytics which we present to broadcasters through an analytics dashboard. The Company began phasing out the Interactive Radio Platform in 2020 and ceased operations related to all legacy deployments and services by July 1, 2020. Much of the core technology of this platform is being leveraged for re-use within faidr. Furthermore, our well-established relationships with more than a dozen broadcasters through the sales, marketing and digital services operations are being maintained as we seek to deploy the faidr App at national scale. Intellectual Property We rely on a combination of patents, trade secrets, non-disclosure agreements, and other intellectual property to protect the proprietary technologies that we believe are important to our business. Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for commercially important inventions and know-how, defend and enforce our patents, maintain our licenses, preserve our trade secrets, and operate without infringing valid and enforceable patents and other proprietary rights of third parties. We also rely on continuing technological innovation to develop, strengthen, and maintain our proprietary position in the field of interactive audio. The Company holds issued patents and has patents pending in the areas of audio content monitoring, identification, distribution and presentation. The Company’s intellectual property has been used in the development of products that allow broadcasters and audio content distributors to present digital content and supplemental audio and video content along with and even synchronized with their standard audio content. These products introduce new consumer use scenarios, such as offering direct response to audio ads (such as a standard broadcast radio commercial). The products give consumers, via smartphone applications, a mechanism to identify both the content and the source of content and allow the consumer to act on what they may have heard and/or receive additional information about what they heard. On March 12, 2019, the United States Patent and Technology Office issued a patent to the Company (titled “Method and System for Sub-Audible Signaling”) that covers an advanced “watermarking” technology to attach source-attribution information, as well as highly detailed content descriptors into an audio broadcast or stream. We believe this technology improves the state of the art by potentially increasing the amount of information that can be embedded in an audio stream or broadcast, as well as supporting the real time addition of sub-audio information. The Company does not utilize this patent technology in its current products, but the technology may be useful for future products or potential licensing to others. However, there can be no assurance that this patent or the technology underlying the patent will be utilized or licensed by the Company or, even if utilized or licensed, this patented technology will result in revenues or profits. 8 The most recent intellectual property to be submitted for patent application is a set of technologies that are integral to the development and operation of consumer-oriented platform that can deliver commercial free broadcast radio content. These technologies involve distributed content monitoring ( e.g., on the smartphones of consumers) and content identification, including the identification of the beginning and end of specific segments of content, such as a song or an ad. Combining these capabilities with time-shifting and real-time audio content replacement provides the end user with a dynamic, multi-source, commercial free audio content experience that can include the local content heard on the radio as well as any other content available form an accessible source. This intellectual property serves as the cornerstone of the Company’s new focus and allows the Company to eventually expand to provide numerous and various audio content sources on a single platform. In June 2020 the United States Patent and Technology Office approved the first of these patent applications (titled “Seamless Integration of Radio Broadcast Audio with Streaming Audio”) that details a process that can be used to monitor, time shift and play an over the air radio broadcast. This patent will protect key Company functionality that is central to the delivery of our core offering of commercial free radio. For example, using this technology, when a commercial break is detected on the over the air broadcast, alternate content from local or streaming sources can be injected to cover the break. Additionally, a second broadcast radio station can be similarly time shifted and used as alternate content. This intellectual property gives the Company exclusive advantages when dealing with established music rights and content costs issues related to broadcast versus streaming music. This gives the Company leverage when working with both the broadcast industry and the music industry, and options to deliver services from lower cost, over the air audio content sources. The Company holds trademarks and is in the process of applying for trademarks for key products and brands. The Company holds the trademark for a product named PLAZE, which is a potential commercial-free music streaming product that is a future, strategic opportunity of the business. The Company also holds the trademark for AUDDIA which is used as both the corporate brand name as well as the name of the consumer-facing mobile application that delivers the Company’s commercial free radio service. The Company holds the trademark for faidr, which is used as the brand name for their audio Superapp. In addition, any intellectual property litigation to which we become a party may require us to do one or more of the following: · cease selling, licensing, or using products or features that incorporate the intellectual property rights that we allegedly infringe, misappropriate, or violate; · make substantial payments for legal fees, settlement payments, or other costs or damages, including indemnification of third parties; · obtain a license or enter into a royalty agreement, either of which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all, in order to obtain the right to sell or use the relevant intellectual property; or · redesign the allegedly infringing products to avoid infringement, misappropriation, or violation, which could be costly, time-consuming, or impossible. Intellectual property litigation is typically complex, time consuming, and expensive to resolve and would divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel. It may also result in adverse publicity, which could harm our reputation and ability to attract or retain customers. As we grow, we may experience a heightened risk of allegations of intellectual property infringement. An adverse result in any litigation claims against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Competition Our audio service offerings face competition from alternative media platforms and technologies, such as broadband wireless, satellite radio, audio broadcasting by cable television systems and internet-based streaming music services, as well as consumer products, such as portable digital audio players and other mobile devices, smart phones and tablets, gaming consoles, in-home entertainment and enhanced automotive platforms. These alternative platforms and technology are offered by much larger and well-established radio-streaming applications such as iHeart Media, Audacy, and TuneIn. These technologies and alternative media platforms compete with our services for audience share and advertising revenues. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully in the audio marketplace. We are a small, relatively new company and we do not currently consider the Company to be a significant participant in its industry. 9 All the top-three radio streamers listed above have the same core weaknesses against faidr. First, none of them can offer complete commercial-free listening. And two, not one is willing to aggregate all the US stations within their platform due to various conflicts of interest. iHeart and Audacy are only interested in allowing users to stream the stations they own and operate, and TuneIn’s relationship with iHeart prevents it from offering Audacy stations. However, our success is dependent upon our development of new services as well as competitive advertising spend, and there can be no assurance that we will have the resources to acquire new users at a compelling rate to out-compete those top-three platforms or to introduce new services to compete with other new technologies or services. Other companies employing new technologies or services could more successfully implement such new technologies or services or otherwise increase competition with our business. Employees As of December 31, 2022, we had 15 total employees, 9 of whom were engaged in full-time research and development activities and 6 of whom were engaged in general administration. The Company also works with 1 full-time contractor who supports research and development and 2 part-time contractors who support general administration activities. None of our employees is represented by any collective bargaining unit. We believe that we maintain good relations with our employees. Health, Safety and Wellness We believe that our employees are the summation of our successes, which is why we offer an excellent health and benefits program to our employees and their families. We offer our employees comprehensive health insurance as well as optional dental and vision coverage. Additionally, we provide our employees with paid vacation, holiday, family leave and sick leave, with numerous other benefits offered to our employees. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we took immediate steps to protect our employees, clients, and communities in which we operate by making changes to work locations, work protocols, and information services. We continue to maintain our commitment to ensuring our employees’ health, safety, and wellness by providing our employees the option to work in office or fully remote. Any employee who works in office must adhere to the Auddia’s policy regarding vaccination status to ensure the health and safety of our employees. Legal Proceedings From time to time, we may be involved in litigation relating to claims arising out of our operations in the normal course of business. We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings, the adverse outcome of which, in our management’s opinion, individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations or financial position. There are no material proceedings in which any of our directors, officers, or affiliates or any registered or beneficial stockholder of more than 5% of our common stock is an adverse party or has a material interest adverse to our interest. Facilities In April 2021, the Company entered a twelve-month non-cancelable operating sublease for approximately 8,600 square feet of office space, with an initial base rent of $7,150 per month with three, separate six-month renewal options, subject to fixed rate escalation increases. In November of 2022, the Company amended the sublease to reflect a new term that now expires on December 14, 2023, unless specifically renewed by the parties. The square footage rented was reduced to approximately 2,160 square feet at the cost of $4,018 per month. Rent expense was $104,223 and $75,336 for the year ended December 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively. 10 Regulatory and Certifications We are subject to varying degrees of regulations in each of the jurisdictions in which we provide services. Local laws and regulations, and their interpretation and enforcement, differ significantly among those jurisdictions. Data privacy has become a significant issue in the United States and in other countries. The regulatory framework for privacy issues worldwide is rapidly evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. Many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have adopted or are considering adopting laws and regulations affecting or regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. In the United States, these include, for example, rules and regulations promulgated under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, the ACA, state breach notification laws and state privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”) and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (the “IBIPA”). Further, because some of our clients have establishments internationally, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and other foreign data privacy laws may impact our processing of certain client and employee information. We rely on a combination of copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secret laws and contractual restrictions to establish and protect our intellectual property rights. We also have a number of registered and unregistered trademarks and will continue to evaluate the registration of additional trademarks as appropriate. We do not have any patents or patent applications pending. Segment Information We operate in a single operating segment and a single reporting segment. Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is regularly evaluated by the chief operating decision maker function (which is fulfilled by our chief executive officer) in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing performance. Our chief executive officer allocates resources and assesses performance based upon financial information at the level. Since we operate in one operating segment, all required financial segment information is presented in the financial statements. Corporate Information We were originally formed as Clip Interactive, LLC in January 2012, as a limited liability company under the laws of the State of Colorado. In connection with our initial public offering (“IPO”) in February 2021, we converted into a Delaware corporation pursuant to a statutory conversion under the name Auddia Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 2100 Central Avenue, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301. Our main telephone number is (303) 219-9771. Our internet website is www.auddia.com and corporate website is www.auddiainc.com. The information contained in or accessible from our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report, and you should not consider it part of this Annual Report. We have included our website address in this Annual Report solely as an inactive textual reference. We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. 11 Available Information Our internet address is www.auddia.com and our investor relations website is located at investors.auddiainc.com. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports can be found on our investor relations website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K. The SEC maintains a public website, www.sec.gov, which includes information about and the filings of issuers that file electronically with the SEC.