All Things Digital has posted an internal memo from recording industry giant EMI's CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti announcing the departure of recently hired ex-Google CIO Douglas Merrill from the label's "digital unit." Of course none of this would be of any interest in the first place if Merrill hadn't originally come from Google, and headed to EMI with grand visions of a similar re-making of the digital music distribution business.

There is no mention in the memo, as is typical, of the underlying reasons behind Merrill's exit beyond that the company appears to be dissolving the "digital unit" (the more often I repeat that phrase to myself, the funnier it gets) and that Merrill's picked number 2, Cory Ondrejka, will be filling a roughly analagous role in the re-merged business. Still, I think we can file this whole episode under the "What were they thinking?" one-night-stand category, although it's worth noting that most commentators thought at the time that it was a great match for both parties.

In sympathy to Merrill, although we don't know the specifics of what happened at EMI, I will say that if you find yourself in a position which is tremendously out of line with what you bargained for, and don't see any realistic chance of improvement, it's better to get out early than to thrash around and let the problems fester. So it might be a good career move to get out now, even if the original idea wasn't so hot.

If you didn't get the post title, see my original commentary on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of Merrill's move to EMI from Google in the first place.