Virtual reality startup Wevr is adding a new service to its Transport app – premium subscriptions – making it the first company to offer a VR subscription. Transport is an independent, curated virtual reality (VR) network where VR creatives and producers can share their content, build an audience and create a community of like-minded users. The Transport app has a free version, but it is now launching an annual premium subscription to support VR creators.

“Wevr is dedicated to bringing more immersive simulations into your life with our Transport VR network. We are embracing the creative community producing brave cutting edge VR and helping them find their audience,” Wevr said.

“We think it’s vital to establish a sustainable business for this community so the medium can evolve and flourish. The annual subscription is our way of creating a symbiotic relationship between artist and audience. It might take a few years for Transport and its creative community to change the world — but we can change the way you see it today,” they added.

Subscribers can get a Mobile (360 video only) subscription for $8 a year, or a PC & Mobile (360 video and room scale) subscription for $20 a year. Subscribers will get access to award-winning, innovative VR content like “Old Friend,” “Waves,” Deepak Chopra’s “Finding Your True Self,” and Season 1 of “theBlu,” a Wevr original series.

“With Transport, we created a platform agnostic service that streamlines the distribution process for VR creatives, who aren’t necessarily making games, to help them reach an audience that’s hungry for their works,” said Anthony Batt, Wevr co-founder and executive vice president, in a statement.

“And since the initial launch earlier this year, we’ve released a suite of experiences that run the gamut from the powerful and realistic with Hard World For Small Things to the more nightmarish and bizarre with Tippett Studio’s Mad God VR. Now, with Transport’s premium tier, we’re embracing the storytellers who adopted VR as their medium of choice and providing them a revenue model that will help them continue to create and innovate in this nascent medium,” Batt added.

Insider Take:

This is another example of how the subscription model has created new opportunities for creative pursuits. With its Transport app, Wevr has already made a name for itself in the non-gaming virtual reality space. Now it can take that success one step further by offering premium subscriptions to help support the work of VR creators and artists. This helps the medium evolve while also providing recurring revenue to sustain VR content into the future.