Categories | Music industry, trade magazine |
---|---|
First issue | July 1942 2006 (revived Internet-only version) |
(original version)
Final issue | November 16, 1996 | (original version)
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Website | cashboxmagazine |
ISSN | 0008-7289 |
Cash Box is a defunct music industry trade magazine that was published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. It has since been revived, as Cashbox Magazine, as an online-only weekly that occasionally publishes special print issues.
Cash Box was one of several magazines that published record charts in the United States. Its most prominent competitors were Billboard and Record World (known as Music Vendor prior to April 1964). Unlike Billboard, Cash Box initially 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. Cash Box also printed shorter jukebox charts which included specific artist data beginning in the spring of 1950. Separate charts were presented for juke box popularity, record sales, and radio airplay, similar to Billboard's methodology prior to August 1958, when Billboard debuted its "Hot 100," which attempted to combine all measures of popularity into one all-encompassing chart. In addition, Cash Box published chart data for specific genres, such as country music and R&B music.
Cashbox was revived as an online magazine in 2006 with the consent and cooperation of the family of George Albert, the late president and publisher of the original edition. Cashbox has occasionally issued special print editions.
As of April 2015, Cashbox Magazine has added the following music charts: Roots Music, Bluegrass Singles, Bluegrass Gospel Singles, Beach Music Top 40, Roadhouse Blues and Boogie Top 40, Country Christian Top 100 Singles, Southern Gospel Singles. The online magazine also relaunched the Looking Ahead Charts on March 1, 2015, covering all genres of music. The Cashbox Top 100 has been expanded to the Top 200. All chart data for the main Cashbox charts is provided by Digital Radio Tracker.
The current leadership of Cashbox includes Doug Stroud, Harold Miller, Christopher Elrod, John Hook, Tommy Smith, David Bowling, Randy Price, Father Jim Drucker, and Lee Vyborny. Featured columnists include Jim Rose and nationally syndicated music columnist, Jerry Osborne. The Cashbox legal advisor is Mike Duncan. Sandy Graham is CEO of Cashbox Canada. Shane and Robert Bartosh control the Roots data.