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Similar to the early rock and roll promotional magazines, these publications allowed record labels to directly promote new artists and albums to people that display a similar taste in music. 

The Hitsville magazine was started in 1965 as a way to promote the music of Motown. The vast subscriber base became known as the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society, of which Ritchie Yorke was proudly the first Australian member. Subscribers would receive a monthly magazine with articles, reviews, previews and promos featuring the biggest artists of the Motown movement. Some copies use reprinted articles from more significant magazines while most are written specifically for the magazine.

The Rhythm and Soul Magazine focused more largely on soul music as well as rhythm and blues and featured a smaller group of subscribers. Nonetheless content remains similar with articles, reviews and promos used to introduce fans to new artists and to promote new material.

It is clear that these magazines primary functions are to show new artists and promote new material. Today, finding new music as a process has been vastly simplified. The use of streaming services have allowed for algorithms to be written to promote new music to fans of similar material. We see this in places like Youtube’s recommended feature and Spotify’s playlists. Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud also now make it easy to see what music our friends are listening to, allowing us to find new music through friends with shared musical interests. These sites also show when musicians that we are already fans of release new music.

While fan clubs like the ones that started these magazines still exist in some forms, usually in Facebook groups or E-mail chains that allow for faster and easier distribution, it is evident that the need for physical promotional material of this nature has dwindled.