Vodafone has signed a deal with Warner Music Group that it claims that will make it the first global operator to offer DRM-free over-the-air access to music from all four of the world’s major record labels. It has previously signed deals with EMI Group, Universal Music and Sony Music. Warner Music’s catalogue of artists will start to go live for Vodafone in DRM-free format straight away, and will contribute to a total library of over 1 million tracks, Vodafone said in a statement. DRM-free downloads via mobile are already available in the following Vodafone markets: UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Ireland. Other countries across the Vodafone footprint expected to be included soon.

Vodafone and Warner Music said they will also work together to offer a range of mobile music products such as value-added album bundles that contain additional multimedia content “The response to the DRM-free offering in all the markets where it has launched has been incredibly enthusiastic,” said Pieter Knook, Vodafone Internet Services Director. “Our customers love music and they love the flexibility that DRM-free on mobile gives them.” The absence of the anti-piracy DRM (digital rights management) software allows subscribers to share downloadable tracks across multiple devices and music players.