File:Motown_logo_with_wordmark.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.bgcolor
- 000000
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.image
- 100px|class=skin-invert
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.parent
- Universal Music Group (UMG)
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.founder
- Berry Gordy
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.genre
- Various
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.country
- United States
- Record label <! See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music >.location
- Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
- Music genre.name
- Motown sound
- Music genre.cultural_origins
- 1960s, Detroit, Michigan
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Official website
- www.motownrecords.com
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Motown
- inception
- 1959-01-12
- short name
- Motown
- social media followers
- 63935
- official shop URL
- shop.motownrecords.com
via Wikidata · CC0
~46 min read
Article
31 sectionsContents
- History
- Beginnings of Motown
- West Grand Boulevard
- Detroit: 1959–1972
- Los Angeles: 1972–1998
- Final years of the Motown label: 1999–2005
- Universal Motown: 2005–2011
- Relaunch: 2011–present
- Roster
- Current
- Motown sound
- The Funk Brothers
- Artist development
- Motown subsidiary labels
- Major divisions
- Secondary R&B labels
- Additional genre labels
- Country
- Hip hop/rap
- Jazz
- Rock
- Other
- Independent labels distributed by Motown
- Miscellaneous labels associated with Motown
- British (pre-Tamla Motown) labels
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Print sources
- Further reading
- External links
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, the center of the automotive industry in the United States, where the Motown was originally headquartered.
Motown played a vital role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned label that achieved crossover success with white audiences. In the 1960s, Motown and its main subsidiary labels (including Gordy, Soul) were the most prominent exponents of what became known as the Motown sound, a style of soul music with a mainstream pop-influenced sound and appeal. Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million in 1988. Between 1960 and 1969, 79 Motown songs reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.