EMI Music’s head of digital music, Douglas Merrill, is leaving the company only 11 months after the decision to trade his previous position as Google’s chief information officer to join the music label in April 2008.

Digital music sales have gained importance in the label’s business plan, and currently count for 20% of its total revenue. EMI Music Chief Executive, Elio Leoni-Sceti, said that the digital music unit can no longer be run as a standalone business, and will be integrated into the label’s general operations.

Leoni-Sceti also announced that the company has promoted Cory Ondrejka to the new position of executive vice president of digital marketing to take Merrill’s place. Odrejka arrived at EMI in June 2008 as senior vice president of digital strategy, and was a co-founder of the virtual world Second Life.

As the home of Coldplay, Radiohead and the Beatles catalog, EMI is taking into account the growing market for digital music sales. In 2008, digital sales rose 27 percent, compared to a 14 percent drop in album sales, and EMI’s restructuring reflects the trend. Will the other major labels follow suit, and streamline their businesses? How many more top positions will be lost?