Coming to the end of a year is always bittersweet. It’s an accomplishment of sorts just to get through it yet there is a sadness that we leave another one behind. This has been a tough year for many. Our financial woes continue, we had a presidential election that tore many people apart and now we are in the grasp of this “financial cliff” that has to worry us a bit. Through it all we “have our music”. It’s the one thing that is the bright spot in our lives. Whether it’s creating it or promoting it or simply listening, it’s the one escape that many of us have in life. Regardless of where the next year or year’s take us, we will always have this bright spot to lean on and to get us through any storm we may encounter.

It’s also that time of year when we celebrate and acknowledge the major and independent artists that made an impact on our charts here at New Music Weekly. So much good music seemed to come out of nowhere, most by many artists we had never heard of before. There were some surprises of artists coming back into the picture, bringing us their new and updated sound, along with new young fresh talent that is most certain to be around for quite some time.

This is also that time of year through our New Music Awards, to highlight the many talented people in our industry. We are so very proud to be nominating the talented music and program directors and their radio stations. They are the real unsung heroes in all of this, as many of them have broken ranks to pick and play music from new and unproven artists. There is no group more supportive of new artists than the stations and programmers that report religiously each and every week to our publication. Many of them have taken on additional jobs just to keep their love for programming alive and for that we salute each and every one of them.

We all know that trying to break an artist or band is no easy task. It requires a team to assist in the promotion and publicity efforts. So it is also with pleasure that we send or kudos to those hard working promotion and publicity folks. New Music Weekly has a small army of promoters and publicists that use our publication as their sole “tool of the trade”. They see to it that artists get their fair shot and believe us, that if we miss a beat or a few spins from time to time we will hear from them. The amount of press releases sent to us each and every week could fill a football stadium, and although there is no possible way to use all of this material, some of it makes the cut. It is indicative of just how hard these people work at their craft each and every day.

In addition to this very special nomination issue, this is also our official Future Hits launch as well. Although many of you have received advance copies and digital services, some will be getting a copy of this for the first time. To our radio programmers, please listen to this offering very carefully. As in the past, you have been brilliant in picking the tracks that best fir your format and we know you will do the same once again. There is a solid representation of formats and even tracks that will fit in with the holiday spirit.

To our reporters, subscribers and even just our followers, we say “thank you”. Not so long ago we started our little “new music revolution” and you took to it, embraced it and helped turn it into something quite amazing. We will continue to offer the “tools of the trade” and if we fail at times, we will get back up and try to make it all much better. Have a very Merry Christmas, a spectacular New Year’s and we’ll see you back here in 2013.