Influence of localized surface plasmon in a lens-shaped metal nanoparticle on the decay dynamics of a point-dipole emitter was studied by means of numerical simulations. Dependencies of radiative and nonradiative decay rates on the distance between the particle and the dipole were calculated for dipole and quadrupole plasmon modes. The presence of the etching cone changes the nonradiative dynamics of a dipole located under a metal cluster and can be a convenient tool to reduce the surface influence on emitters. The cone also selectively enhances the nonradiative decay rate for the emitter located under the vertex enabling preferential plasmon coupling in ensembles of emitters. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.