| Categories | Music industry,trade magazine |
|---|---|
| First issue | July 1942; 83 years ago (1942-07) (original version) 2006 (2006) (revival) |
| Final issue | November 16, 1996; 29 years ago (1996-11-16) (original version) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Kennedy, Alabama, U.S. |
| ISSN | 0008-7289 |
Cashbox, also known asCash Box, is an Americanmusic industrytrade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues asCashbox Magazine, anonline magazine with weekly charts and occasional special print issues.[1] In addition to the music industry, the magazine covered theamusement arcade industry, includingjukebox machines andarcade games.
Cashbox was one of several magazines which publishedrecord charts in the United States. Its most prominent competitors wereBillboard andRecord World (known asMusic Vendor prior to April 1964). UnlikeBillboard,Cashbox combined all currently available recordings of a song into one chart position with artist and label information shown for each version, alphabetized by label. Originally, no indication of which version was the biggest seller was given, but from October 25, 1952, a star was placed next to the names of the most important artists.Cashbox also printed shorter jukebox charts that included specific artist data beginning in spring 1950. Separate charts were presented forjukebox popularity,record sales and radioairplay. This was similar toBillboard's methodology prior to August 1958, whenBillboard debuted its "Hot 100", which attempted to combine all measures of popularity into one all-encompassing chart. In addition,Cashbox published chart data for specific genres, such ascountry music andR&B music. In 1960,Cashbox discontinued its R&B chart after the March 5 issue; it was reinstated in the December 17 issue due to popular demand. The chart was originally dropped because it became dominated bypop records.[2]
Cashbox was a competitor toBillboard through the 1950s and 1960s, but two factors spelled its decline in the 1970s. Archivist and record historianJoel Whitburn published his first research book based on theBillboard Hot 100, which made that data the "Bible" for official historic chart positions.[citation needed] In addition, the syndicated radio seriesAmerican Top 40 withCasey Kasem usedBillboard chart statistics, cementingBillboard as the dominant chart data for current and historic reference.[citation needed] Magazine publisher George Albert compiledCashbox chart data for a reference book more than a decade later, andDick Clark usedCashbox information for a time on hisNational Music Survey, beginning in 1981. However, by that time, the trend was set.
Perhaps the final straw forCashbox came on December 12, 1992, when the Top 100 chart reported the number one song as "The Letter" byWayne Newton. The song did not even make the bottom of anyBillboard chart, nor was it reported to be in the top ten by local radio charts or sales reports. This called the magazine's integrity into question.Cashbox lost considerable credibility within the industry after this, with accusations of chart fixing.[citation needed] No official findings of the Newton incident were ever revealed.Cashbox would subsequently print its final consecutive chart of this era in November 1996.
In 2003, the formerCashbox Magazine became involved in a murder trial after police in Nashville, Tennessee, made an arrest in a 1989cold case. Kevin Hughes was a small-town boy from southeastern Illinois who spent his childhood focused on music and creating his own country music charts. As a young man of 22, Hughes thought he had landed his dream job in Nashville as the chart director forCashbox's country music chart for up-and-coming artists. He compiled data from jukebox plays, record sales, and radio play to determine theCashbox chart positions of various country music records. He reportedly was looking to introduce more scientific and transparent methods of determining chart positions, when a year into his job, he was gunned down in the street late one night on Nashville's famousMusic Row. After years of investigation, police arrested his formerCashbox coworker, Richard D'Antonio, for the murder. Prosecutors maintained the killing was in connection with apayola scheme where record promoter Chuck Dixon paidCashbox employees for favorable chart positions and other publicity. A Dixon client was once namedCashbox's "Male Vocalist of the Year" without having sold a single record. Hughes was reportedly killed for not going along with the chart-fixing scheme. D'Antonio, aCashbox employee associated with Dixon, was convicted offirst degree murder in 2003 and died in prison in 2014. Dixon had already died a few years prior to D'Antonio's arrest.[3][4][5][6]
Cash Box was reinvented as the monthly onlineCashbox Magazine in 2006, with the consent and cooperation of the family of Albert, the late president and publisher of the original edition.Cashbox has bimonthly print editions available by mail subscription.
As of April 2015[update],Cashbox Magazine has added the following music charts: Roots Music,Bluegrass Singles, BluegrassGospel Singles, Beach Music Top 40, Roadhouse Blues and Boogie Top 40, Country Christian Top 100 Singles andSouthern Gospel Singles. The online magazine also relaunched the Looking Ahead Charts on March 1, 2015, covering all genres of music. TheCashbox Top 100 has been expanded to the Top 200. All chart data for the mainCashbox charts is provided by Digital Radio Tracker.
Sandy Graham is the owner, editor in chief and CEO ofCashbox Canada, an independent music trade inToronto, Canada. Shane and Robert Bartosh control the Roots data. Bruce Elrod is the owner and remains the registered agent forCashbox, which is now operated fromRidgeway, South Carolina.[7]
The current owners ofCashbox met with Wilds & Associates co-founder and CEO Randall Wilds in 2018 to discuss business relations. Wilds acquired interest inCashbox Magazine and a partnership was formed. As a result, Wilds & Associates became the publisher forCashbox. While the digital/online edition remains intact,Cashbox returned to a printed edition as a bi-monthly publication beginning with their November/December 2018 issue, featuring country music artistBlake Shelton on the cover. In addition to being the publisher forCashbox, Wilds & Associates also serves as the distributor of the publication. Since returning to a print edition, a new website was unveiled in late 2021. The new site[1] offers readers a preview of each issue, music news, and subscription information.
In 2014, Whitburn's Record Research Inc. published a history of theCash Box singles chart data covering October 1952 through the 1996 demise of the original magazine.[8] Randy Price maintains the originalCash Box data for the online archives.[9]
TheSwem Library atThe College of William and Mary[10] maintains the archive of the original print editions ofCash Box magazine. The print editions were digitized in collaboration with the Internet Archive, via a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.[11]
The Looking Ahead chart was theCash Box equivalent to the Bubbling Under charts ofBillboard. It commenced on October 3, 1959, with 20 positions. By April 29, 1961, the magazine had 50 positions and maintained that format during the 1960s. During the 1970s, it was in the 20–30 position format until its cessation on February 27, 1982. It recommenced on August 4, 1990, with 15 positions until its final cessation on March 27, 1993.[12][13]
This was a chart that was based on whatCash Box called a "quantitative analysis" of playlist reports. The March 14, 1981, issue of the magazine stated that across the country there were 102 country radio station stations which were used. The magazine would receive reports from the stations. It wasn't only based on radio station reports. Sales data was used as well. These could come from retailers,rack jobbers and one-stops.[14]
