People like, Jerry Heller, the co-founder of the one of the biggest 80’s rap labels, Ruthless Records, says he always respected Berry Gordy’s “genius” business practices and Berry’s high-end level of play with his Motown empire. He said Motown records always had fleets of nice cars parked outside and was a very professional music business establishment, but what he most admired was that Berry didn’t mind playing the game dirty, which to Jerry Heller, was a pure stroke of “genius” that he, himself patterned some of his business model after.
Now before we go further, let’s say this- we all know that with all large, successful business establishments, there is always some bad stories mixed in with the glory. So here they are…
Motown has a history of being sued over money by some of their artists such as
So many record company execs have followed his “formula”.
Yep
So many record company execs have followed his “formula”.
Yep
Why can’t whole postings be on one page?
Why can’t whole postings be on one page?
The article never fully explained what tactics Berry Gordy used that were considered dirty. And there’s too much click and see which forces a reader to continue with the subject or just close the page.
The article never fully explained what tactics Berry Gordy used that were considered dirty. And there’s too much click and see which forces a reader to continue with the subject or just close the page.
In the case of Gordy, it wasn’t about the artists hiring their own crappy lawyers, the way Berry worked was that he offered you a contract and you signed it right there on the spot or the deal was off the table. There was no going home to look it over, there was no bringing in your own lawyer. He liked you and you have a few minutes to decide to turn your life over to him. Nothing more to discuss. There was even one guy who took the contract home, looked over it, still wanted to sign and Berry told him no. We all know the stories of how piss poor many of those artists were before Motown so they saw it as their only way out of the hood. I learned that from a book I read about MJ. The only person on Motown that seemed to flourish was Smokey and that’s because he wrote his own hits and wrote hits for others so they weren’t about to go messing with their cash cow.
In the case of Gordy, it wasn’t about the artists hiring their own crappy lawyers, the way Berry worked was that he offered you a contract and you signed it right there on the spot or the deal was off the table. There was no going home to look it over, there was no bringing in your own lawyer. He liked you and you have a few minutes to decide to turn your life over to him. Nothing more to discuss. There was even one guy who took the contract home, looked over it, still wanted to sign and Berry told him no. We all know the stories of how piss poor many of those artists were before Motown so they saw it as their only way out of the hood. I learned that from a book I read about MJ. The only person on Motown that seemed to flourish was Smokey and that’s because he wrote his own hits and wrote hits for others so they weren’t about to go messing with their cash cow.