Smart or Not? Oyster Adds Devices to Music Plans, Beats Get Exclusive Rights to Jay-Z Track

Here’s a test of your business savvy. Which one of these business decisions was smart? Case #1: Oyster, the subscription eBook service, just added Android,

Here’s a test of your business savvy. Which one of these business decisions was smart?Case #1: Oyster, the subscription eBook service, just added Android, Kindle Fire and Nook HD tablets to its $9.95/month subscription plan at no extra cost. Previously, the service was only available on iOS.Case #2: Beats Music, which recently got acquired by Apple, got exclusive rights to a World Cup themed track featuring Jay-Z that’s gone viral on YouTube.In my opinion, Case #1 is a smart decision as it allows Oyster to grow across devices. After all, avid readers are not limited to a device (and often have more than one device). While the site could start charging a small premium for multi-device access, it’s wiser not to with a consumer audience, especially when you’re testing engagement and retention on different devices.Case #2, however, is probably a poor use of money and resources. That’s because, as GigaOm right points out, music listeners are not as interested in exclusive access to one song. It’s tempting to think exclusive rights will work in the streaming music world since they’ve worked so well in the streaming video world with companies like Netflix and Amazon building audiences on original content. But keep in mind — both of those sites gained popularity first by having access to a huge number of old titles. Thus, Amazon Prime’s recent move to make music available to subscribers at no additional cost is far more likely to make it a big player in the streaming music subscription space that Beats/Apple’s exclusive rights tactic.What do you think?

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