Berry Gordy plays the piano with Motown stars including Stevie Wonder, at right, and Smokey Robinson, at rear behind the piano. Steve Kagan / Getty ImagesOn January 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. started Tamla Records with the help of an $800 loan from his family, starting a journey that would forever change the music industry. The following year, it merged into Motown Record Corporation.For Gordy, starting his own label was the product of a longtime love of music. When he returned from Army service in 1953, he opened a short-lived record store in Detroit. Later, to amuse himself on the Ford assembly line, Gordy would make up songs. Eventually, he found himself writing for singer Jackie Wilson and helping young singer William Smokey Robinson and his band, best known as the Miracles, sell records.The limited returnsone royalty check Gordy received is said to have been for just $3.19are part of what motivated him to start Motown. Back in those days, especially if you were Black, nobody was paying you what you should be paid, if they paid you at all. So Berry decided to start his own record company and gave us that outlet, Robinson told AARP Magazine in 2018.In an industry dominated by just a handful of major labels, success was no small feat. The industry tended to market music by Black artistsusually all lumped under the umbrella of rhythm and bluessolely to Black audiences. Those R&B tunes often only reached a white audience if a white artist like Pat Boone or Elvis Presley decided to cover them.To succeed, Gordy needed to appeal to the majority-Black R&B market and the broader, majority-white pop audience. Indeed, an early analysis of Motowns success from Fortune magazine credits Gordys financial success to his ability to attract talented Black artists and recognize those tunes, lyrics and audio effects that would appeal to Black and white listeners alike.In addition to creating songs with mass appeal, Gordy focused on marketing to white audiences, including hiring white marketers to use their connections in the industry. Sometimes, he avoided putting musicians on album covers so they wouldnt be immediately discounted because of their race.Motowns first album was Hi Were the Miracles, released in 1961. The album included Shop Around, Motowns first single to sell more than a million copies.The label quickly hit its stride. Motown songs kept up with tunes by bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and earworms from groups like the Supremes helped Motown sell more 45s than any other company in the nation. By 1971, it had put out 110 Billboard Top 10 hits.The integration of Motowns acts into the upper echelons of the pop charts had a ripple effect, leading groups like the Supremes to be invited to play clubs with predominantly white audiences. They werent always welcomed with open arms: Several Motown artists, includingthe Contours Joe Billingslea, have recounted the racism they experienced while touring.Gordy was hesitant to let artists try to send a message with their music. For example, he initially vetoed Marvin Gayes incredibly successful 1971 album Whats Going On because it talked about social and political issues. He only relented when Gaye threatened never to work with him again.I never wanted Motown to be a mouthpiece for civil rights, he told TIME in 2020. Instead, he saw the label as an example of a successful Black business and a force for integration through music. Still, Gordy and Motown took an active role in civil rights history by recording Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech, unknowingly creating an important archive of the now-famous address.I saw Motown much like the world [King] was fighting forpeople of all races and religions, working together harmoniously for a common goal, Gordy told TIME. Gordy later sold the label, but its beginning and golden era left a profound mark on history.Our music made you feel good, but we also had a message of equality, Martha Reeves, of Motowns Martha and the Vandellas, told NPR in 2011. It's just the sound of young America.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Music, Musical History, Musicians, On This Day in History, Rock Musicians