Project Description
Interview with
JOHN COURSE and JOHN CURTIN
from
REQUEST ARTISTS
Interviewer – Dave Bruce
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A little bit of your musical history please. Briefly, who are you? Where have you been? How did you get here?
JOHN CURTIN – My name is John Curtin, I have worked in hospitality, marketing and music since 1992 when I was 15, worked across a lot of venues in Melbourne, Head of Marketing for Totem Onelove which included Stereosonic, Creamfields, Swedish House Mafia tours, setup Uber Eats in Melbourne with a launch team, worked for Swisse Wellness now have a Marketing Consulting Group with a Social Media agency The Likes of You and now an artist booking Platform called Request Artists
JOHN COURSE – I’m a long time dance music fan, DJ and co founder of Vicious Recordings and now Request Artists… I’ve been playing, listening to and eating, sleeping and breathing dance and club music for over 25 years and from starting out as a DJ and turntablist (I won the Victorian DMC Champinoships in 1988 and 1989) I have toured extensively around Australia, had a national dance music radio show for 7 years on Nova, mixed CD’s for Ministry Of Sound, One Love and Vicious and DJ’d literally thousands of gigs, venues, dance parties and events.
As entrepreneurs, why did you feel “Request Artists” was necessary, and why do you think others will feel the same way.
JOHN CURTIN – John Course has a rich history as an artist, DJ, Label owner and I love technology, building the process but have also booked a lot of corporate and wedding/special occasions so when John came to me with the idea, we workshopped it a lot, tried a number of platforms and ideas and came thru with a great product for the customer, artist and all involved. As an entrepreneur I think we are all moving towards having custom experiences and demand the best or something different which is what we can create with Request, a bespoke booking platform with some of Australias biggest artists for the corporate and special occasion market.
JOHN COURSE – I felt there was a need to connect the music people clubbed to when they were first going out, to private events…So rather than just finding any old DJ for a significant event such as an engagement, or a wedding, I felt people wanted to actually have DJ’s they relate to, names they know because they danced to them at their favourite clubs and festivals. I was getting contacted by people who had my Ministry Mix cd’s and wanted me to play the same style of music for their wedding, or their corporate function. A natural extension of that was to have a collection of DJ’s who likewise play at real clubs and can be available for corporate or private functions as well (provided the music styles connect). SO the initial seed was to provide DJ’s who have vast musical experience and DJ week in week out to clients who care about music. Then making the experience tech friendly with search functions, easy playlist sharing, browsing of acts, even billing and contracting online, were all important aspects of a booking service in 2020.
What do you hope to achieve personally in the next year with this project?
JOHN CURTIN – Growth, I want to see more bookings for our artists and work with some of the best hospitality groups, functions, events and friends.
JOHN COURSE – I want to connect people running events to awesome DJ talent to provide a great, easy, music experience on the night. Great music. Supply a great reliable experience for people for .who Music Matters
You must have some classic booking mishaps over time. Care to share one or two?
JOHN CURTIN – Recently a client booked a venue I was consulting to for over 1000 people, it was a HUGE function with a lot of retailers and expenses, they booked the wrong date and turned up a day early, there was a huge scramble and the event went without an issue but just shows always have a good run sheet and always check your dates.
JOHN COURSE – None worse than when the spec sheet is not read and you arrive to play and the equipment is wrong… Remember having the wrong CDJ’s can mean for instance, that an SD slot is not on the CD player and as such, the DJ may not be able to play any music.
Any thoughts on taking this worldwide eventually?
JOHN CURTIN – I think it has the potential, I love the name Request Artists as that’s what the end user is doing and I couldn’t believe that we could attain the .com .com.au and all major social handles. So any VC’s out there lets chat.
JOHN COURSE – Australia wide first, but there is always scope for it to grow and has been set up with a progressive mind set for expansion.
Finally, a few basic questions for some quick insightful responses –
FAVOURITE:
Album –
JOHN CURTIN – Any Girl Talk albums, love them, MGMT
JOHN COURSE – I’m more a song guy than an album guy, but Mothership Connection by Parliament was a great album that I personally love or Prince’s Purple Rain Soundtrack.
Artist –
JOHN CURTIN – Calvin Harris
JOHN COURSE – Too many to mention, but Armand Van Helden has stood the test of time in dance music circles… Prince.
Movie –
JOHN CURTIN – Heat, The Other Guys, Bridesmaids depending on my mood
JOHN COURSE – Pulp Fiction
Place to visit –
JOHN CURTIN – Bondi Beach, New York, Ibiza or Noosa
JOHN COURSE – London and Mykonos
Venue to play –
JOHN CURTIN – I don’t DJ
JOHN COURSE – One Love at Prince was awesome
Food –
JOHN CURTIN – Japanese or Greek
JOHN COURSE – Asian of all varieties.
Drink –
JOHN CURTIN – Balter Beer, Sparkling water or Negroni
JOHN COURSE – Coke Zero
Person in History –
JOHN CURTIN – Steve Jobs: incredible his vison and creativity
JOHN COURSE – My Mum.
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?)
JOHN CURTIN – If I ever got a tattoo it would say “See tattoos don’t look good on everyone”
JOHN COURSE – Some sort of Japanese or Asian symbol or writing, but I don’t have any.
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Check out REQUEST ARTISTS below
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Blog
Welcome
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Request Artists Launch in Australia
DJ & Artists for Events
Booking Platform
Founders: John Course, John Curtin, Piero Giovannini
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Request Artists Overview
Request Artists is a booking platform for corporate, special occasion, sporting and cultural events
Unlike other platforms, it has some of the biggest Australian DJs, that are not available on other platforms
It was created by John Course – co-owner of music label Vicious Recordings (who has sold over 2 million compilations) which has had over 200 million streams. The label has managedand released some of the biggest artists in the world including: Avicii, Peking Duk, Madison Avenue & more
John Curtin has extensive marketing experience, including: Head of Marketing for Stereosonic and the brand new Festival ‘Festival X,’ as well as launching ‘Uber Eats’ in Australia
Piero Giovannini has played at over 500 corporate events and supplies lighting and AV equipment to over 30 venues in Victoria
The platform has been running in beta mode for 4 months and in the past month, has had a 50% growth in bookings via their industry contacts. They are now going to market for Christmas and are looking forward to a big 2020
Request Artists was built with extensive market research in conjunction with function bookers, DJs, event consultants and previous customers
Request Artists have built a revolutionary service using their specific search method of: Australian venues, nightclubs, festivals and music styles, to make it easy for the end user
The platform was built in 12 months for around $50k and utilizes Australian SAAS such as Qwilr, XERO and other programs
There are plans to build out Request Artists nationally and seek investment and eventually go internationally via their industry contacts
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What is Request Artists?
Request Artists is a marketplace where you can book the best Australian DJ’s and Artists for your events. Request Artists service any event or special occasion in Australia. For example: Weddings, Birthdays, Christmas Parties, Office / Corporate events ANY event that requires quality music by a well-known DJ. Due to Request Artists’ extensive event and festival experience, they can also organise Sound and Audio-Visual if required (see below for more info).
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Who formed Request Artists?
John Course, John Curtin & Piero Giovannini are the three Founders behind Request Artists. They each have extensive experience & contacts in venue bookings and event services via their networks. They have all worked across the Music, Artist, Hospitality & Digital space for over 20 years and have a great passion for hosting quality events. They are very well respected within the Music & Events Business community and have great music, event and marketing experience.
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John Course:
Long time DJ and founder of Vicious Recordings (established in 1993), John Course, has been a stalwart of the dance music scene, having mixed multiple CD’s for: Ministry Of Sound, OneLove and Vicious. John Course has toured extensively across Australia having played at leading festivals, clubs and private events for over 25 years. Through the Vicious Recordings network of labels, John Course has been directly involved in the careers of: Madison Avenue, Dirty South, AVICII, The Potbelleez, Peking Duk, Sgt Slick & Rogue Traders, not to mention countless other DJ’s and producers who continue to release under the Vicious network.
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John Curtin:
John Curtin is a professional marketing leader with a rich history and proven track record in Digital Marketing, Marketing, Events, and Social Media. John has managed, marketed and launched projects from large Corporate to Start-up Cultures such as: Swisse Wellness, launching ‘Uber Eats’ in Australia, Stereosonic (Australia’s largest music festival),Festival X Australia, Red Bull and several other related companies and festivals.
John formed John Curtin Consulting in 2013 and has a diverse range of clients in the Digital, Startup, Hospitality, Film, Music and Technology space.
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Piero Giovannini:
DJ, producer, event coordinator, owner and director of Audio Visual company, Night Grooves. With 25+ years in the club, festival and corporate music scene, Piero is a staple in the music industry and has performed both nationally and internationally in a distinguished career. As a producer, Piero has had several records that have charted in the top 10 Aria Club charts. In the last ten years, Piero has curated music festival events at the iconic Riva St Kilda, hosting performances of both International and local artists to thousands of people. He is also the founder of Night Grooves and has looked after some of the biggest and the best in the music industry from all around the world.
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What sparked the idea behind Request Artists?
After being approached many times to play private events as a DJ, the idea of a booking agency with the scope to supply the actual DJ’s who play clubs and events weekly, seemed logical to John Course. DJ’s with deep musical knowledge, who can play not only mainstream music, but also cater for a more specialist music palette, appealed to John… DJ’s for When Music Matters. John Course then approached John Curtin in late 2018 for advice and the concept of working with some of Australia’s best Artists for private and corporate events began. John Curtin loved the idea as he had helped countless times to organise friends’ weddings or larger hospitality groups looking for artists for Spring Racing or other special events. He could see the potential and the two had some in-depth discussions about making it more than your traditional agency with not only a music focus, but also with a tech forward mentally, utilising today’s technology in terms of automation, artist search filters, organisation workflow and liaising with Clients and Artists online. The technology was super important to both and they wanted to ensure it was super easy to make a booking:
Select Your Artist – Select Your Venue – Select Your Genre – Select Your Date -> BOOK ARTIST!!
Their goal is to bring some of the best Artists (not just mobile DJ’s but actual DJ’s who play at some of the best Clubs & Parties around Australia), to play at your Wedding, Engagement, 30th birthday, Product Launch, Sporting event, School formal or Work Christmas party, EOFY celebration etc.
“The search options within the site are really awesome and one of our key differences to other services. You don’t need to use them, but if you want a DJ from a certain club you go to (or used to, go to), or if you want a more specialist music direction, both filters are great tools.” – John Course
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What is the point of difference with Request Artists?
Request Artists have put together over 35 of the best DJs, Artists and Vocalists in Australia (this list is continuously growing). They have an automated system via their website: RequestArtists.com.au where you can book your preferred Artist on your chosen event date. It’s exciting that the talent of artists they have put together, cover so many musical styles, genres and are a great mix of classic DJs and new acts. These are artists that can play any room large or small and have a great mix of music with a huge depth of musical knowledge. For example, you can select to have: John Course, Andy Murphy, Khanh, DJ Feline or a plethora of different artists play at your event.
The search functionality is fantastic; you can search based on venue or event, e.g search via a specific style of music or search to find DJ’s who have played at your favourite venues, for example: Onelove, OneSixOne or Bond, making a choice for an Artist is so easy and fluid. Adding production hire to a booking is as easy as clicking once, allowing Request to quote sound and lighting literally at the tick of a box. The Artists are also experienced enough to work with clients on specific songs that may be important for an event, speech requirements, corporate event needs and other things which assist in the success of your event.
“We are really excited to connect some of Australia’s biggest and emerging artists to corporate events and special occasions such as: weddings, engagements, 30ths, sporting events, large scale venues, product and store launches. We can make the process so easy with a fantastic website, artists and can also organize staging and Sound/AV for your event” – John Curtin
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Which areas do Request Artists service?
Australia wide, however, they have already had a request for a New Year’s Eve party in Los Angeles. They also have requests from some friends who are getting married in Bali and are enquiring for their wedding in 2020.
Request Artists can not only organise the best DJ / Artist for your special occasion, but by partnering with Piero’s company ‘Nightgrooves’ they can also supply: Sound, Audio Visual, Staging and any specialty hire requirements. This simplifies the process and they offer great pricing and one invoice for both talent and equipment, which makes everything so much easier. Given their reach within the industry, they also have great relationships with: function venues, hospitality venues, photographers, videographers, car services, florists and catering groups. They can also facilitate introductions to the best providers in the business & will offer great pricing and seamless experiences for your event.
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John Course
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