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Adele · S6 E5
The Streaming War
She refuses to put 25 on Spotify. In an era of streaming, she sells 3.38 million copies in the first week in the US alone.
November 2015. Every major streaming platform in the world requests album 25 for their service. Adele and Jonathan Dickins say no to all of them.
Adele and Jimmy Fallon performing "Hello" on classroom instruments (The Tonight Show, 2015). While the music industry debates whether Adele's streaming boycott will backfire, she's on late-night television playing toy instruments and laughing. The contrast between the seriousness of the business decision and the lightness of the performance is pure Adele.
The Business Decision
Withholding 25 from Spotify is the most aggressive move an artist has made against the streaming model since Prince pulled his catalogue in 2014. The logic is straightforward: if the album is free on Spotify, people won't buy it. Every industry analyst predicts the strategy will fail. It doesn't. 3.38 million copies in week one proves that for certain artists, scarcity still works.
The War
In 2015, the music industry is in the middle of its biggest structural shift since the death of the CD. Spotify has 75 million users. Apple Music has just launched. The consensus is that album sales are finished. Adele disagrees.
“"I don't use Spotify. I know it's the future, but I think it's a bit unfair that people can listen to my album for free."”
TAP TO REVEAL: Who else pulled their music from Spotify before Adele did?
What was the commercial result of Adele's decision to withhold 25 from streaming?
When Doves Cry, Prince
From Prince's Purple Rain (1984). Prince was the original streaming resister: he pulled his music from every platform and fought for decades to control how his art was distributed. His battle predates Adele's by years, but the principle is identical. Both artists believed that the person who made the music should decide how it reaches the audience. Prince never compromised. Adele compromised seven months later. But those seven months changed the conversation.
When Doves Cry, Prince (1984)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Prince controlled every aspect of his music, from the writing to the distribution to the legal ownership. Adele learned from that example. The streaming war of 2015 was not just about money. It was about an artist's right to decide how their work enters the world.
The Streaming War
The album is sold, the streaming war is won, and now Adele has to do the one thing she's always hated. Next episode: the 25 World Tour launches, and 107 shows across four continents prove that the voice works just as well in an arena as it does on a record.
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