The 13-year-old quarterly, which bills itself as “a cooler brand of pop culture”, will go 100% electronic next year, with an iPhone app due in February and an iPad version due in April.

Editor Antonino Tati said: “The cost of paper is one of the reasons [for the switch].” He would not disclose the name of Cream‘s printer.

“Paper is like oil. We found that printers weren’t swaying toward the demands of publishers post-GFC. While the prices of everything are going down, we couldn’t keep up with the price of paper going up.

“It doesn’t make sense when there are more valuable, accessible avenues and cheaper resources out there,” said Tati.

He added that the fact Cream used a heavy stock amplified the problem. “If we were printing on toilet paper, it wouldn’t be such an issue.”

The switch was also motivated by the demands of advertisers, who wanted “hard facts on circulation”, said Tati.

He would not reveal the magazine’s circulation. Cream is not covered by the Audit Bureau of Circulation or Roy Morgan readership figures.

“We need to provide a medium for advertisers that is going to be used by the reader in an efficient way – to hear a download of a song, see the ‘behind the scenes’ of a fashion shoot, or have access to directories and know there is a boutique around the corner where they can buy those jeans.”

He is confident readers would make the switch to electronic. “Cream magazine’s readership have always been at the fore of product trends and adoption. They aren’t afraid of the digital world.”

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