The boss of eMusic, and one of the most vocal executives in the digital music sector, David Pakman, has announced he is leaving both the independent download service and the digital music industry to become a partner in an unnamed venture capital firm. No replacement has been named as yet, though headhunters Barlow Group have reportedly been hired to find one.

Confirming Pakman’s departure, eMusic chairman, and the President of its owners JDS Capital, Danny Stein told reporters: “While we’re proud of David’s success and the great team that survives him, we look forward to working with a new CEO who will take the company from $70 million of revenue to several hundred million of revenue”.

Pakman joined eMusic as COO in 2004, becoming CEO in 2005. As one of the first download stores to offer an exclusively DRM-free MP3 download offer – albeit involving exclusively independent labels – Pakman was often called on for comment while the major record companies went through the final stages of their self-destructive insistence that digital rights management technology be attached to all of their music. Both Pakman and his download store, meanwhile, have remained credible names in both the digital and grass root music communities, despite disputes with some key indie labels over price point.

He is expected to stay with the download firm until the end of the year, and will continue to advise the company on a consultancy basis after that.