Jac Holzman of Elektra wrote:"I was...searching for a way to take our specialized and distinctive catalog and have it heard by many people.
We were actively promoting our records, the public was paying for the privilege and getting good value in return, and Elektra was being fertilized by the profits.
Holzman was enthusiastic for the format, and Elektra regularly issued budget-priced samplers of its folk catalogue in the USA throughout the 1950s and 60s.
CBS’s The Rock Machine Turns You On, Liberty Records' Gutbucket, Warner Bros.' The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook (first of the long-standing Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders series), and Island Records' You Can All Join In were the first samplers issued in the UK and Europe at a discount price, setting the standard for those to follow.
Many of the most important and innovative folk and rock artists of the time featured on the samplers of their respective record labels, particularly in the UK, and as a result their work reached an audience which would have otherwise been inaccessible.