I probably chose the wrong term, 'subsidiary', when writing the title...maybe 'auxiliary' would have been better.

We know Motown branched out to release its artists on different labels as not to saturate the market with everything labeled "Motown" which would have caused some DJs to be reluctant about playing 'yet another Motown record.'

Each label tended to have its own "Motown" sound to my ear. IMO, the Motown label output was more sophisticated and polished. The music I heard from the Tamla label seemed mellow and laidback [[ex. Marvelettes & SR/Miracles). The Temptations and MR/Vandellas' output had an air of grittiness about it on the Gordy label. The Soul label had more of what soul music was sounding like from the other companies during the 60s. These are just what I consider the major Motown subsidiaries...yes, Lurlean, there are more.

Although not always the case, the actual recording/mastering process seemed, to my ears, to be quite different especially when comparing the aural aspect of the smooth Tamla recordings and the dynamic sounding Motown recordings.

All of this to say is that Berry and his side people were definitely geniuses in how to market the Motown sound which was really taking off around 1963-64.