Perth’s longest running magazine, X-Press, has been forced to scrap its print edition in favour of digital, after 30 years of publishing.

The music and gig guide had to end its fortnightly printed publication owing to a lapse in print advertising, and it will now publish content on a newly established smart phone application.

The magazine was hailed as Australia’s highest-circulating free weekly entertainment publication, with 40,000 copies sent to 1000 outlets each week.

[Related: Famous magazine print edition scrapped]

X-Press managing editor Bob Gordon says the shift to digital-only follows the direction the publishing world is heading, and the rise of social media has made it difficult for hard copy editions to reach the hands of its target audience.

The publication’s last ever hard copy edition hit the street’s last Wednesday, now trading ink for iPhones with a digital online platform and downloadable app.

X-Press was printed at Rural Press Printing Mandurah in Western Australia.

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