Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) media group’s executive Ian Rogers, known for his progressive views on DRM-free downloads, is leaving the company. As he describes on his blog, “I’ll be joining founders Peter Gotcher and Shamal Ranasinghe as the CEO at a still-mostly-stealth company called Topspin Media. Our mission is to help artists earn a living through software.” The company is venture funded, though not disclosed yet.

Rogers was heading Yahoo’s music efforts after Dave Golberg left, but was recently moved out to work on video and media applications across all of Yahoo Media. Karen Gilford, who is the head of entertainment under Scott Moore, is now looking after music.