Will Page

Will Page is the former Chief Economist of Spotify and PRS for Music, where he pioneered rockonomics, the application of economics to music and digital media. At PRS, he published work on the Long Tail and Radiohead's In Rainbows and had a pivotal role in saving BBC 6Music. At Spotify, he helped redefine catalogue, and his global value of music copyright has become an essential tool for all music industry stakeholders. Will is now working full time on his first book, Tarzan Economics: Eight Principles in Pivoting through Disruption.

Having been a significant player throughout music’s ‘first to suffer and first to recover’ journey through digital disruption, Will believes the industry has a twenty-year head start to help everyone else staring at their own Napster moment due to Covid-19. As a result of the pandemic, everyone is facing an unprecedented level of disruption, a pace of change that’s accelerated, and a future that will look nothing like the past. Based on his personal experiences, Will believes these eight principles will help individuals, organizations, and institutions pivot their way through disruption by letting go of the old vine and reaching out for the new. Fueled by his passion for teaching economics to those who don’t think they’ll understand it, don’t want to understand it but have to, and the audience that has to understand it now, Will’s approach to public speaking has three rules: (1) if they’re not laughing, they’re not learning; (2) every minute he’s talking is a minute where the audience can’t ask questions and (3) always engage the least interested person in the room, ensuring no one is left behind.

From his first break - writing for Straight No Chaser magazine - to producing a recent documentary on West African Highlife and chart-topping DJ sets, Will's portfolio is diverse. A passionate communicator, he is regularly featured in Billboard Magazine, The Economist, and the Financial Times. He is frequently called upon to advise governments on policy issues, measuring the creative industries' contribution to the economy, advising leaders on how to tackle piracy, and examining Covid-19’s impact on Live and Recorded Music Industries. Additionally, he collaborated with the University of Chicago, applying behavioral economics to Spotify's popular Discover Weekly feature. Will is a Visiting Fellow of the London School of Economics and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.