With great success there is inevitably going to be great loss. Motown Records suffered this for several reasons.
1. Despite starting out in the city of Detroit, with Berry Gordy and most of the performing groups being born and raised there, and becoming synonymous with the city, the label eventually abandoned Detroit and relocated to Los Angeles in the hopes of an even brighter future. This brighter future did not come to pass. Marvin Gaye and the Temptations left, The Supremes broke up, and The Funk Brothers decided to stay in Detroit. Having lost a great deal of it's main players, Motown began to deteriorate drastically.
2. Having come from nothing and eventually working his way to the top by starting his own record label, Berry Gordy became greedy, and believed that a frontman was required for every performing group, resulting in Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. He then started distancing individual members from the group, which in turn caused sales to decline and the groups to separate.
3. There came a point when the groups simply became too large. This could be seen with David Ruffin when he was a Temptation, in addition to Diana Ross leaving the Supremes. Most groups ended up being led by certain individuals. When those vocalists suffered from inflated egos, their groups deteriorated until they were forced to make changes to their lineup. When Diana Ross left, the Supremes essentially vanished. The Temptations, however, did manage to keep their success after Ruffin. Motown lived on, but just barely.
1. Despite starting out in the city of Detroit, with Berry Gordy and most of the performing groups being born and raised there, and becoming synonymous with the city, the label eventually abandoned Detroit and relocated to Los Angeles in the hopes of an even brighter future. This brighter future did not come to pass. Marvin Gaye and the Temptations left, The Supremes broke up, and The Funk Brothers decided to stay in Detroit. Having lost a great deal of it's main players, Motown began to deteriorate drastically.
2. Having come from nothing and eventually working his way to the top by starting his own record label, Berry Gordy became greedy, and believed that a frontman was required for every performing group, resulting in Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. He then started distancing individual members from the group, which in turn caused sales to decline and the groups to separate.
3. There came a point when the groups simply became too large. This could be seen with David Ruffin when he was a Temptation, in addition to Diana Ross leaving the Supremes. Most groups ended up being led by certain individuals. When those vocalists suffered from inflated egos, their groups deteriorated until they were forced to make changes to their lineup. When Diana Ross left, the Supremes essentially vanished. The Temptations, however, did manage to keep their success after Ruffin. Motown lived on, but just barely.
timesdelphic.com/2010/11/07/the-rise-and-fall-of-motown-records