YouTube Music has been growing its international audience, but its development team just lost a few notable members. According to Variety, the three co-founders of Songza have exited YouTube Music and moved to other posts under the Google umbrella.
Former Songza CEO Elias Roman, the lead product manager for YouTube Music, has left his post at YouTube Music for a new role at Google’s Area 120 startup incubator. Songza’s former chief product officer Elliott Breece and former chief operating officer Peter Asbill have also transitioned out of YouTube Music and to Area 120. A representative from YouTube Music confirmed the departures, but said there were no other changes to the team.
Google acquired online radio and recommendation platform Songza in July 2014. Later that year, it folded technology and personnel from Songa into its Google Play Music All Access service. Google has been making adjustments to its music strategy, with both Google- and YouTube-branded services over the years. The latest expectation is that Google will eventually replace Google Play Music with its YouTube Music and YouTube Music Premium services. However, no timeline has been given for that goal.