Motown
Parent company	Universal Music Group (UMG)
Founded	January 12, 1959; 67 years ago (1959-01-12)
Founder	Berry Gordy
Distributors	Republic (US) Motown UK/EMI (UK) UMe (reissues)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States
Location	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.[1]
Official website	motownrecords.com

Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959,^[2][3] it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960.^[4] Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, the center of the automotive industry in the United States,^[5] 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.

In March 1965, Berry Gordy and Dave Godin agreed to license the Tamla Motown label name for future UK releases through EMI Records. Shortly after, as Berry Gordy owned the brand name, Tamla Motown also became the primary name used outside the US for non-EMI licensees. In 1997, EMI bought 50% of the rights to Motown back catalogue for re-releases in Europe, sharing ownership with Polygram (Now Universal Music). In 2013 with the sale of EMI Group to Universal Music, the label acquired the majority of the remaining rights to Motown old catalogue in Europe. Warner Music, which purchased the former EMI Records, still has a minimal share of the rights to Motown old catalogue, mainly in the UK.

Following the events of the Detroit Riots of 1967, and the loss of key songwriting/production team Holland–Dozier–Holland that year over royalty disputes, Gordy moved Motown to Los Angeles, California, and it expanded into film and television production. It was an independent company until MCA Records bought it in 1988. PolyGram purchased the label from MCA in 1993, followed by MCA successor Universal Music Group, which acquired PolyGram in 1999.^[2]

Motown spent much of the 2000s headquartered in New York City as a part of the UMG subsidiaries Universal Motown and Universal Motown Republic Group. From 2011 to 2014, it was a part of the Island Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music.^[6][7][8] In 2014, however, UMG announced the dissolution of Island Def Jam, and Motown relocated back to Los Angeles to operate under the Capitol Music Group, now operating out of the Capitol Tower.^[1] In 2018, Motown was inducted into Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Charles H. Wright Museum.^[9]

In 2021, Motown separated from the Capitol Music Group to become a standalone label once again.^[10] On November 29, 2022, Ethiopia Habtemariam announced that she would be stepping down as chairwoman/CEO of Motown.^[11] As of 2023, acts signed to Motown include City Girls, Migos, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Smino, Vince Staples, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and several other artists in the hip hop and R&B genres.