What remains of Motown’s funk and soul empire?
If any one person defined the American chart music of the 1960s, it was Berry Gordy Jr. From humble beginnings, taking a small loan from his parents, Gordy established Motown Records – originally called Tamla – back in 1959. Over the next decade, Motown artists would dominate the singles charts throughout the United States, launching timeless stars like Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson, to name only a few, and establishing itself among the most important record labels of all time.
Soul music began to emerge in cities like Detroit and Chicago during the late 1950s, but the universal appeal of the music was largely limited to small independent record labels within those cities. Realising the potential to share those sweet sounds not just with the rest of the United States but with the entire globe.
Ever a man of his word, Gordy wasted no time in making Motown a national phenomenon across the States, earning Motown’s first hit with ‘Money (That’s What I Want) by Barrett Strong and never looking back. ‘Please Mr Postman’ by The Marvelettes provided Motown with its first chart-topping single in 1961, and the following decade would see the independent label foster a whopping 110 top ten hits.
Motown was so much more than just another record label; it was a cultural movement that captured the spirit of the era. Even outside the United States, nightclubs in England were packed with mods and northern soul obsessives dancing all night to singles produced by Gordy’s label.
Something as colossal and successful as Motown could never simply fade away into the ether. However, musical trends rarely last forever. After the unparalleled run of hits throughout the 1960s, the popularity of Motown’s output witnessed a steady decline in the following decades.
By the time the 1980s came around, the only hit power left on Motown were stalwarts like Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross, along with Lionel Richie, who joined the label in 1968 as a vocalist with The Commodores. Not only did the label struggle to land number one singles as they had done previously, but the expansive operations of Motown meant that it started to bleed money.
Gordy, in spite of his reputation as a musical master, was always a businessman at heart. So, when faced with the declining relevancy of his independent record label, the leader quickly sought to off-load the sinking ship onto somebody else. So, in June 1988, Gordy sold off his ownership of Motown to MCA Records and Boston Ventures for the princely sum of $61million (around $162m, when adjusted for inflation).
After the sale, Motown’s various assets were redistributed or sold off. MCA continued to publish music under the Motown name into the 1990s, finding a certain degree of success with artists like Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill. Internal struggles within MCA eventually saw the label purchased by Polygram, which was eventually absorbed by Universal Music in 1998.
So, does Motown Records still exist?
After Universal acquired Motown, the major label operated ‘Motown Universal’ as a subsidiary, although the venture was fairly unsuccessful. Eventually, in 2011, Motown Records was relaunched by Universal, and the label still exists to this day. Currently, the label’s roster is largely composed of hip-hop artists, often shared with other Universal subsidiaries Capitol and EMI.
Lil Yachty, Quavo, and Vince Staples form some of the biggest names currently signed to Motown, with more established stars like Erykah Badu and the now-disgraced P Diddy still on the roster. Although Motown still technically exists, it has not produced a number-one single since ‘Four Seasons of Loneliness’ by Boyz II Men in 1997.
It is fair to share, therefore, that not much of the magic remains from the Motown golden age back in the 1960s.
