Mobile content has been big for quite some time as a marketable commodity, and this is no secret to companies who have managed to capitalize on the meshing of the mobile and music market bases. Indeed, mobile phones have gone from formal tech items used by businessmen in suits to close deals across the globe to personal items used by people from all walks of life to communicate with other people from all walks of life. The opportunity to customize and personalize one’s phone with ringtones that match one’s personality – and, taken a step further, with a music collection that does the same – has only made the mobile content market even hotter.
Vodafone recently announced a partnership with Warner Music in a deal that allows Vodafone to offer over-the-air access to the immense music catalogues of the world’s four biggest music companies combined – in DRM-free format, no less – making Vodafone the first global mobile network operator to have the clearance to do so. This does not affect the current download service via Vodafone, as customers will still enjoy the service allowing them to use tracks – paid for one time – across all of their personal music players. As a matter of fact, the deal expands upon the music that will be available to Vodafone customers, and even adds the possibility of a range of mobile music products offering additional multimedia content for customers who purchase albums that have extra-value multimedia packages bundled in.
Fresh off a successful launch of their mobile application storefront earlier this year, the British mobile network operator Vodafone has managed to stay on top of bringing current trends to the mobile context, with the acquisition of social network ZYB and even being the first carrier to implement Facebook for Mobile Operators. The current development with Warner music is the latest step in Vodafone’s efforts in providing a strong DRM-free music catalogue, after having announced similar DRM-free mobile distribution deals with Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI in March of 2009. DRM-free downloads have actually already been made available in various European Vodafone markets, including the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Ireland and Greece.
Vodafone and Warner have both voiced strong enthusiasm for this latest step in their working together, with Vodafone Internet Services Director Pieter Knook remarking that the addition of Warner’s catalogue to their available offerings is “really great news for our customers,” and that response to the DRM-free offerings has thus far met with great enthusiasm, owing in part to “the flexibility that DRM-free on mobile” grants users. This keen interest in the partnership is mirrored by Warner Music, who Warner Music Europe SVP for Digital Business Eric Daugan explains are “pleased” to continue working with a carrier company that shares Warner’s “vision of how to help foster the growth of mobile music.”
The new deal opens the doors for Warner’s large library of music-industry superstars both established and emergent, whose music will all go live in DRM-free format. This immense library is over 1 million tracks strong, offering a great degree of diversity and range of styles and interests for Vodafone markets in Germany, Greece, Ireland, the UK, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, as well as partner markets in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus and Bulgaria.
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