system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Yes, but, the entire music industry was pretty fucky prior to the 1960s.  Songwriters routinely got paid a flat fee and performers might get 3-6% royalty.

Sure they poached plenty of songs from rural and black people back then, paying them very small flat fees, but the entire industry was way different as well, and songwriters got kind of screwed regardless of skin color.
gpt
And by producers of all color. Motown’s people were screwed over as royally as any others. It wasn’t all companies, but it seems like it.