Starbucks is taking its increasingly focused attention on the music and movies industries up a notch, as the company plans to move its content division from its Seattle headquarters to Los Angeles.

At the nonprofit Digital Coast Roundtable in Santa Monica last week, Starbucks president Ken Lombard confirmed the move and called it a demonstration of his company's commitment to its entertainment strategy, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

"The opening of this office would bring a portion of the Starbucks Entertainment content team closer to the music labels and movie studios with whom they are in constant communication," he said. Starbucks recently inked a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. to help market the upcoming film Akeelah and the Bee.

The coffee giant has grown its music business each year, adding to its Hear Music retail locations and allowing customers to create custom CDs.

At the Midem music industry conference in Cannes, France, last month, Lombard said that with the music industry in "chaos," Starbucks' Hear Music division plans to move beyond CD sales and custom CD burning to allow customers to transfer songs directly onto MP3 portable music players.

Lombard said the company still must address issues like deciding between making the downloads iPod-friendly or going with the digital rights management (DRM) technology of its Microsoft-backed rivals.

But given Starbucks' successful musical forays, including exclusive retail releases (Ray Charles, Alanis Morissette), its 3.5 million albums sold in its fiscal year ended September 30, and its recently announced plans to promote movies and offer DVDs and soundtracks at its retail locations, it's likely MP3 downloads could be coming to a Starbucks near everyone soon.