Apple and EMI announced in London yesterday that EMI’s entire music and video catalog will be available in May on iTunes minus the DRM (digital rights management) protection. The DRM-free content will also come at higher quality at a slightly higher price (256kbps AAC at $1.29) and will exist alongside regular 128kbps AAC downloads. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song.

This makes EMI the first of the big four music companies to offer their content without DRM protection. Steve called EMI’s move “the next big step forward in the digital-music revolution–the movement to completely interoperable DRM-free music.” He added that “Apple will reach out to all the major and independent labels to give them the same opportunity.”

Earlier in February, Steve Jobs published an open letter titled “Thoughts on Music” where he proposed music labels remove DRM from their music. His letter was widely talked about but some said that Steve needed to put where his mouth was and allow DRM-free content on iTunes. This watershed deal between EMI and Apple looks to me like what may be the first (baby) steps to a world of DRM-free content.

More coverage

• Apple Unveils Higher Quality DRM-Free Music on the iTunes Store (the official press release)
• EMI, Apple partner on DRM-free premium music – News.com
• Apple, EMI offer higher-quality DRM free downloads – Playlistmag.com
• Apple and EMI ditching DRM is good, but it’s not good enough – Engadget’s take on the deal