Of course we all know that famous line from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

I have been reflecting about many things this Christmas and on how the world changed for all of us this year.

As a member of the media and the music world my friends, artists and colleagues all got hit hard and it went down slowly and painfully. In my world, one by one major festivals I was supposed to be attending were canceled, postponed or switched to a virtual format. It was like slow motion watching it happen, surreal and hard to handle.

The amazing thing to have witnessed was how resilient the music world tried to be. Artists immediately switched to virtual concerts online, promoters booked artists to perform inside clubs with screens and patio settings outside, drive-in theatres were used for bigger shows, with car horns blaring instead of applause. House concerts were set up on lawns with neighbours gathering in a safely distanced environment to enjoy live entertainment.

Many major conference festivals switched to a virtual format with great success for ones like Mastering the Music Business (Romania) MIDEM (France) Indie Week (Canada) MONDO (USA) to name a few.

Some artists took the self-isolation and solitude to be creative and work on new music – those are the ones who will survive and excel when we return to some sort of normalcy.

We are now trying to be optimistic and positive about bookings and appearances in 2021. Sadly, many of our favourite venues did not survive the financial strain, worse still are the artists we loved who lost their lives to COVID-19.  And so many millions that we never know their names who have suffered the disease and in many cases the death that came with this terrible pandemic, families and loved ones affected forever.

But the human soul is strong.  And music people have a bit of gypsy blood – we are survivors and we learned that we have colleagues who are truly friends. We took a little bit of that life and the times spent together for granted which was a harsh but a very positive lesson in the long run.

Music has always been a major part of history – some of the best songs were written after WW11, Woodstock created a whole new sound and songs from the hippie movement and beyond. Music has always been our salvation. So if you can support our artists in anyway right now, please do that – buy their music online, watch their virtual show, let them know you love their music. Because when this is all over (the worst of times) we will all come back stronger and better and be ready to love the music, the artists and our live shows will once again be there for us to enjoy (the best of times).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the whole Cashbox Team - and we thank you for your support.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”- Charles Dickens