The Music Business Is Still Strong in Michigan

Decades after Motown records ruled the charts with "The Sound of Young America" and put Michigan on the musical map, business is still booming.

Berry Gordy took an $800 loan from the family co-op in 1959 to launch Tamla records and nurtured the specialty imprint to the vast Motown empire which he sold for $60+ million in 1988. Music is still big business in Michigan. 50StatesofMusic looked at the financial impact of music on the U.S. economy and found it contributes $143B to the GDP. supporting 1.9M jobs, 1.17M of which are songwriters.

There have been a few songwriters and performers to come out of our state that you may remember: icon Bob Seger, the pioneer Madonna, rappers Kid Rock and Eminem, Del Shannon (who put the very first Lennon/McCartney song on the charts); the artists with ties to the Mitten are as diverse as Alice Cooper and the late Aretha Franklin. Michigan is home to 31,500+ songwriters, contributing to almost $1.7 Billion to the GDP of the state. Here's what they had to say about our rich heritage.

Michigan is home to music.

Detroit is the birthplace of Motown, the site of 8 Mile, and a city with musical roots and influence that few can rival. From Madonna and Diana Ross to Stevie Wonder and Eminem, countless Michigan natives are known the world over for having an outsized impact on their respective musical genres. Michigan's contributions to our national musical heritage are innumerable and invaluable, and it continues to foster a vibrant and diverse music scene for fans of all genres.