Sydney’s longstanding weekly dance magazine 3DWorld has changed hands for the second time in less than 12 months – and the third time in two years – with the Street Press Australia (SPA) conglomerate announcing their acquisition of the title this week. Other street press magazines owned by SPA include Drum Media in Sydney and Perth, Inpress in Victoria and Time Off in Brisbane.

3DWorld, which has been on the Sydney scene since 1989, was initially sold to Destra Corporation in October, 2007, but was then reclaimed by the original owners in 2008 when Destra collapsed and went into liquidation. Following SPA’s announcement of the purchase, made today, industry speculation is rife that 3DWorld’s future could be as a dance insert in Drum Media, rather than its own stand alone publication, however at this stage there’s been no official intimation that this is the case. It’s certainly an interesting turn of events and is perhaps also symptomatic of an overall shift in media consumption patterns from those who traditionally read street press towards online. Over the past few weeks we’ve been undertaking a survey of the inthemix audience to find out what avenues they use to stay abreast of music news and discovered that only 40% of respondents said they read street press, and that less than 9% rated free mags as the best source of info.

So, what does the future hold for street press in Australia? Much has been said in recent weeks about the struggles being faced by newspaper giants like Fairfax and News Limited, who have been watching with some dismay as their audience shifts from reading physical copies towards online. For the past 10 years street press has largely avoided building their presence online, and in that time we’ve seen the social networking phenomenon well and truly take over. Also, without trumpeting our own success, inthemix has stamped its presence on the music scene Australia-wide, and most promoters nowadays have their own form of web activity to communicate with punters. Whether it’s an elaborate site with their own membership program and ticketing store or something as simple as a Facebook group and email list, the balance of power has unquestionably shifted.

What do you think; do you still pick up street press, or do you now look elsewhere to find out what’s going on? Let us know your thoughts on the subject by posting a comment below.