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Universal Music relaunches Tamla Records
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 21 June 2023
Universal Music has dug around in its big bag of brands and pulled out Tamla – the original name of the Berry Gordy founded label that became Motown Records, and which operated as an imprint of Motown for many years.
Gordy sold his Motown business to MCA in the late 1980s, which then sold it to Polygram, which was later merged with MCA to create what we now call Universal Music. Hence why the Tamla brand was sitting in that big of brands at Universal HQ ready to be dug out and revived.
The all new Tamla Records will operate as part of the major’s Capitol Music Group – specifically the Capitol Christian Music Group – and will be, says the official announcement, “a mainstream imprint focusing on positive hip hop and R&B music”. It will be overseen by EJ Gaines, who is currently SVP Marketing for Capitol CMG.
The new label will also have partnership with Thomas ‘Tillie’ Mann, who – as the longtime mix engineer for Quality Control Records – collaborated with numerous artists signed to that label. Tamla will now collaborate with Mann and his Encouragement Music company.
Say Capitol CMG Co-Presidents Brad O’Donnell and Hudson Plachy in a joint statement: “We are THRILLED to be re-launching the Tamla imprint. We want to honour the iconic history of the label founded by Mr Gordy, and Tillie Mann and Encouragement Music are exactly the kind of partners that we want to work with. EJ Gaines is a seasoned executive who we know will guide Tamla along with the support of our overall Capitol CMG staff”.
Meanwhile the CEO of the wider Capitol Music Group, Michelle Jubelirer, adds: “The relaunch of Tamla broadens our company’s commitment to hip hop and R&B music, as well as to the artists, label partners and creative executives who have joined Capitol Music Group over the past eighteen months. The artists EJ and his team will bring to Tamla will complement the incredible talent across our label group and will have everyone’s support throughout the wider company”.
