Motown wasn’t about connecting singer/songwriters to an audience. It was a “hit factory” churning out studio product (studio writer, studio performers, packaged singers).
It was mixed to sound good on an AM car radio.
There is much better 60s soul than Motown.
I liks Motown as well as Stax and Chess. For me it depended on the artists.
There was a lot of pop sound in Motown, but now and then the soul came through.
I think if you put our a dozen records a week for years, you’re going to get some of them right.
One of my favorite experiences was at the Long Beach Blues Festival in 1994. They brought out these two old guys from Mississippi and they sat in chairs on the edge of the stage. They played 4 songs and left. Both in their late 80s and rarely had played outside the state. That was a special time.
Actually it WAS about connecting their latest artists to a live audience while mixing for AM radio which is correct. Think of all the bus tours they did. Yes, it was a "hit factory", but so what? The Supremes, Temps, Four Tops, Smokey, et al just sounded great even though they didn't write their own songs for the most part and had Phil Spector and other great producers. That actually started with the Shirelles and/or Martha & the Vandellas. Think it was Holland/Dossier/Holland or such that wrote many of the songs.
Motown and other R&B was what I loved, think Aretha (Respect). I started out with the Shirelles and others of the early 60's and progressed into Motown. My friends couldn't figure me out because I loved soul and the British invasion (mostly early Stones).
I also enjoyed Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, and other non-Motown label artists if that's what you're talking about above. If you want to see a good movie about the origins of R&B, check out the Chess Records movie.