YouTube's Music Industry Liaison Chris LaRosa to Depart for Startup

A source at Google contradicted a report from the Wall Street Journal that LaRosa's departure would delay the launch of YouTube's forthcoming music service. "It's a loss and he will be missed, but there are several people, senior and front-line, working on music. We're not that concerned, from a product perspective," they said, emphasizing that his departure would have no effect on any forthcoming products.

The video streaming behemoth has had a busy few months, drawing ire from indie representatives over its negotiating tactics on the new streaming service, which eventually resulted in a formal complaint being filed against the company to the European Commission.

On the plus side of things, the company recently struck a partnership with Universal Music Group on Awesomeness Music, a project launched under the Dreamworks Animation tent (which UMG head Lucian Grainge sits on the board of) as Awesomeness TV, a multi-channel network started by TV producer Brian Robbins, veteran music exec Steve Rifkind and hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons.