Let me take you back in time to 1959: an enterprising young man named Berry Gordy Jr. took an $800 loan and a dream, and created what became “The Motown Sound.” We all know the story of how the Motown Sound influenced a generation and a culture of Black Music and Black Artists. Acts from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, to Diana Ross and the Supremes, to the Jackson 5, all made the label become popular beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. It was known for taking teenagers and young adults out of the ghetto, and turning them into international superstars almost overnight. What most people don’t know is the other side of Motown, the dealings that had to be done, and the risks that had to be taken in order to ensure popularity of The Motown Name.
Berry Gordy, and astute and shrewd businessman in his own right, made certain that he was in complete control of all aspects of his artists’ careers….from their promotion, to their look, and even to what was said during interviews. Many of the acts that we know to be the glamorous, legendary, trendsetters of their time- were really just kids in their own right; barely out of high school themselves. The majority of them didn’t know anything about the music business, the contracts that they were signing, or the deals that were being made on their behalf without their actual consent. Of course, nowadays it's common knowledge to never sign anything without having a lawyer present- but in the early sixties, the concept of getting a major recording contract with a well-known label, was considered the dream of a lifetime. So much so, that many of them signed contracts without so much as the proper supervision present; as it was standard Motown practice to “never let an artist take a contract home to look it over.” It was often said that this was the case because Berry Gordy didn't want outsiders influencing the artists.” The contracts were presented to every act in the exact same fashion: either my (Motown’s) way or the highway. Of course, many of them never thought of the long-term stipulations that such a restricting contract would provide.
As a signed Motown act, you were never, under any circumstances, allowed to write or produce your own music. After all, the record company did all of that for you. Motown already had their own team of hit songwriters and producers who were well versed in tailoring songs specific to “The Motown Sound.” In addition, there were also issues in regards to the royalties of many of the label's artists; particularly the early Motown acts. The standard royalty rate at the time for all artists signed to the label was a strict 2.7 percent. This rule was never modified, regardless if you were a solo act or part a group. So just imagine groups like The Temptations or The Four Tops, etc; who because of their size (or in spite of it) had to split their rate amongst 4-5 members at once. The royalty rate was supposed to increase, depending on how long an act had been with the company- however for most of them, it did not for the entire duration of their stay with the label. It was because of this procedure that several of the Motown acts were still battling royalties with the label some decades later. In fact, many of them had to end up abandoning their royalties altogether, in an effort to escape the terms of their contract. This in addition to the fact that the artists had to foot the bill for the recording sessions themselves for all released, and unreleased music. For instance, take Florence Ballard, formerly of The Supremes, who tragically passed away at the age of 32, in 1976. At the time of her death, she was on Welfare and living in the projects of Detroit. How could this be? This was a woman who was 1/3 of one of the biggest (if not the biggest) girl groups in history, not even 8 years before her death. When she tried to forge a solo career of her own after being ousted from the group, Gordy wouldn’t allow her to associate herself as once being apart of the group. Since he owned the name, “The Supremes,” he had the right to say who used the name in any way, to further advance their own career. Instead, she was only allowed to say only that she was a member of “a popular female group.” Why else do you think you still see acts like Mary Wilson (of The Supremes), The Temptations, The Four Tops, and so many other Motown acts still out there touring and performing golden oldies for audiences across the country well into their 70's. Not necessarily because they want to, but because they need to.
No case is more evident than with the Jackson 5, who signed with Motown in 1968. The boys were signed to a 7-year contract by their father Joseph Jackson, who never even read any of the contracts that he had each of them individually sign. One of the many contractual stipulations stated that “Motown was under no obligation to record the group or promote its music for five years.”
Motown also would "choose all of the songs that the group would record, and each song would be recorded until they have met Motown’s satisfaction.” The group was paid $12.50 for every ‘master.’ However, in order for a recording to be considered a master, it had to first be released; otherwise the group would be paid nothing. Motown was obligated to pay the costs of these recording sessions, whether the songs were released or not- but this was only in the instance that the song recorded recouped royalties from sales. All in all, The Jackson 5 recorded an astonishing total of 469 songs from 1969 to 1975. This is remarkable considering that they also had to tour consistently, do press conferences, make public appearances, etc. Of those 469 songs, only 174 were actually released. Since the Jackson 5 broke out of their contract a year early, in 1975, they had to end up paying $2 million to Motown, not only for the right to break out of their contract, but also for all of the unreleased songs during their tenure. Ironically, many of these "unreleased" songs would later be released on “Best Of” or “Anthology” albums years later when Michael released "Thriller," in an effort to capitalize off the Jackson name.
But perhaps the most backhanded stunt of them all, was that of the Jackson 5 name. If Joe Jackson had actually read over those contracts that he signed back in 1968, he would have seen that in one fell swoop, he signed over the ownership rights to the “Jackson 5” name long before the boys ever recorded a single note for Motown. This means that even though The Jackson 5 came to Motown with that name, Berry Gordy assumed control over it so that they would never be able to use it anytime after they left the company. As a result, the boys had to change their name to “The Jacksons” when they broke contract and signed with CBS Records in 1976. To further complicate problems, Jermaine Jackson chose to stay at Motown in order to be loyal to his new “father-in-law.” After all, he was now married to Berry's daughter Hazel, causing that of a chasm between the Jackson and Gordy clans. To any outsider, and by all accounts Jermaine was finally in a prime position to to shine as the so-called “Prince of Motown.” He was no was no longer under his little brother Michael’s shadow, and had the room and backing to become a huge star in his own right. Unfortunately, what happened was the exact opposite. Due to lack of promotional effort on the part of Motown, many of Jermaine’s albums for the label fared pretty poorly in terms of sales- but he wasn't the only one.
By this point, we're in 1975, and Berry was so focused on leading Motown’s budding transition into Hollywood (primarily Diana Ross’ movie career), that many of the label's older acts such as The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Miracles, and (ironically) The Supremes minus Diana Ross, also suffered as well. Unless your name was either Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder- both of whom successfully sued Motown for creative control over their careers- the magic of the Motown machine had all but faded into yesteryear. Almost all of the acts that had been with the label pre-1973 were now struggling to find their place in a younger, ever-changing music industry. Many of them headed for greener pastures, and switched to larger, more established corporations such as Atlantic and RCA- only to find that they weren't treated with nearly the same respect and "Rock Star" status as they had been at Motown. These "older acts" (many of whom were only in their mid-30's at best) were now moved to a label's so-called "Black Division," where they were not even considered, nonetheless marketed. Think about it. This is exactly the reason why when you speak of Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, The Miracles, and countless others who were hit-making machines in their own right, you're sadly only talking about a specific period in time where their popularity was at its height.
