Adele's manager Jonathan Dickins is a music industry power mover who also represents Jack Penate, Jamie T, London Grammar and Paul Epworth, among others.
The 42-year-old Brit recently shared his thoughts on Spotify and other streaming services in lieu of Taylor Swift's decision to ditch that model.
"Streaming is the future, whether people like it or not. Within five years it will be ubiquitous," he said at a Dublin Web Summit conference that also featured pro-Spotify speaker Bono, according to Billboard.
On Swift and the changing streaming model: "To get around the situation with someone like Taylor Swift — and Spotify won't do it — is that maybe there is a window between making something available on the premium service earlier than it's made available on the free service."
On the disconnect between disdain for Spotify but praise for YouTube: "What's interesting is that people take things down off Spotify, yet if I search now for Taylor Swift on YouTube, within the space of 30 seconds I can have the whole Taylor Swift [album] streamed. Some of it is ad-supported, so there is revenue, and some of it's not.
"On the one hand, the labels are trumping YouTube as a marketing tool and 10 million views is [hailed] as a marketing stroke of genius. On the other hand, they're looking at 10 million streams on Spotify and going, 'That's X amount of lost sales.' So I think there is a lopsided effect. For an artist that needs discovering, anyone who has got a real good album, but is very niche, I think streaming is great for them. Taylor Swift probably looks at it and thinks, 'There is an element of cannibalisation. I am a brand. People know who I am and I want to protect the record sales.' And that's fair enough."
On promoting Adele but not to the point of madness: "When you reach saturation point it cheapens it. One of the biggest things that I do is actually say no. The power of saying no is very valuable and that can be no in any situation: 'No, I don't want to do an Adele perfume. No, we're not doing a[n Adele] nail polish.' Or it can be, 'No, you're not doing a deluxe album and putting it out at £4.99 [$7.92].' Whatever it is, the power of being able to say no, fight for your rights and be the gatekeeper to these opportunities is key."
On protecting his artists: "Record companies now, especially the majors, live in a culture of fear. There's the ability to kill, look for blood and rinse every last sale out of a record, and I think it's damaging. I think a manager has to have a view to protect the long term. If you don't and you take the short-term approach, you are going to get short-term results."
Adele's music is still available on most streaming services, while Spotify absorbed another blow Sunday, Nov. 9, with the announcement that Jason Aldean would be removing his record-setting new album.
