   motown is an american record company. it was founded by berry gordy, jr. on january 12, 1959, in detroit, michigan, as tamla records, and was incorporated as "motown record corporation" on april 14, 1960. the name, a blending of motor and town, is also a nickname for detroit. motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an african american-owned record label which achieved significant crossover success. in the 1960s, motown and its subsidiary labels (including tamla motown, the brand used outside the us) 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. during the 1960s, motown achieved spectacular success for a small record company: 79 records in the top ten of the billboard hot 100 record chart between 1960 and 1969.the sound of the city, charlie gillett, sphere books, 1971, p.247 gordy relocated motown 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). motown was then sold to polygram in 1994, before being sold again to mca records' successor, universal music group, when it acquired polygram in 1999. motown spent much of the 2000s as a part of the universal music subsidiaries universal motown and universal motown republic group, and headquartered in new york city. from 2011 to 2014, motown was a part of the island def jam music group division of universal music.ben sisario, "a young music executive takes over at motown", new york times, august 10, 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.universalmusic.com/corporate/universal-republic-and-island-def-jam-motown-expand-creative-teams-with-appointment-of-art |title=brandon creed
African-American_culture African-American_history American_record_labels Companies_based_in_New_York_City History_of_Detroit,_Michigan Labels_distributed_by_Universal_Music_Group Motown Motown_Productions_films Motown_albums Motown_artists Motown_singles Music_of_Detroit,_Michigan Pop_record_labels Record_labels_established_in_1959 Rhythm_and_blues_record_labels Soul_music_record_labels Vivendi_subsidiaries