7/31/2019 What is Motown

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Question: What is 'Motown' ?

Answer: Motown is a record company originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated

as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The

name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit. Now headquartered in

New York City, Motown is a subsidiary of The Island Def Jam Music Group, itself a subsidiary of 

the French-owned Vivendi subsidiary, Universal Music Group. Motown Records was also the

name of Gordy's second record label; the first, Tamla Records, began on January 12, 1959.

Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music, by achieving a

crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its soul-based subsidiaries were the most

successful proponents of what came to be known as The Motown Sound , a style of soul music 

with a distinct pop influence.

Motown has owned or distributed releases from more than 45 subsidiaries in varying genres,

although it is most famous for its releases in the music genres of rhythm and blues, soul and

pop. Gordy relocated Motown Records to Los Angeles in 1972 and there it remained an

independent company until June 28, 1988, when Gordy sold the company to MCA and Boston

Ventures (which took over full ownership of Motown in 1991), then to PolyGram in 1994,

before being sold again to MCA Records' successor Universal Music Group, when it acquired

The PolyGram Group. As of summer of 2011, Motown has been reactivated under The Island

Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music Group.

Question: What Is the 'Motown Sound'?

What is the so-called 'Motown Sound'?

Answer: The Motown Sound is a style of soul music with distinctive characteristics, including

the use of tambourine along with drums, bass instrumentation, a distinctive melodical and

chord structure, and a "call and response" singing style originating in gospel music.

Among the most important architects of The Motown Sound were the members of Motown's in-

house team of songwriters and record producers, including Motown founder Berry Gordy,

William "Smokey" Robinson. Also instrumental to the sound was the work of Motown's in-

house band, The Funk Brothers, who performed the instrumentation on nearly every Motown

hit from 1959 to 1971.The Motown producers and the Funk Brothers band used a number of innovative techniques to

develop the Motown Sound. Many tracks featured two drummers instead of one, either

overdubbed or playing in unison, and three or four guitar lines as well.

The Motown Sound was also defined by the use of orchestration, string sections, charted horn

sections, carefully arranged harmonies and other more refined pop music production

techniques. It was also one of the first styles of pop music of that era wherein girl groups--

including The Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas and The Marvelettes --were showcased as an

act, as opposed to individual female artists.

Source: Gerri Hirshey's "Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music." (1994)