Monstercat

“	"Empowering a passionate community through innovation."	”
– Monstercat Slogan

Monstercat Logo

Monstercat (formerly known as Monstercat Media and MonstercatGaming) is an EDM record label based out of Vancouver, Canada. Mike Darlington (CEO), Ari Paunonen (COO), Ephixa, Going Quantum, and a few un-named friends of theirs founded Monstercat in July 2011.

Unlike other labels that sign artists to exclusive label deals, Monstercat signs their artists on a per-track basis, giving them full copyright to a song while still giving the artist freedom to release other productions where they see fit. Darlington and Paunonen created compilation albums to provide artists with a method of releasing their music and attempt to lessen the competitiveness between them.

History

Founding

In July 2011, Mike Darlington (CEO) and Ari Paunonen created Monstercat as a YouTube channel. and Paunonen's friends to share and promote their music.

Milestones

• The first single on the label was Dubstep Killed Rock 'n' Roll by Ephixa which was released on July 4, 2011.
• In December 2011, Monstercat signed Krewella, an American electronic dance music group from Chicago, Illinois; Killin' It being their first original song released by a label. Krewella later became an internationally recognised name, and brought attention to the growing label.
• In June of 2014, Monstercat reached one million record sales.
• On January 30, 2017, after the release of Gareth Emery and Standerwick's song Saving Light, featuring HALIENE, it reached #1 on the Best of Trance List on Beatport and furthermore, reaching #1 across multiple digital stores. This became the first Trance song to do this since over a decade prior. Because of the popularity of this song and having a large audience to Monstercat, Trance was deemed to be revived. Sequentially, on the very last "A State of Trance" show of 2017, Saving Light was crowned as the Anthem of 2017, giving the song the Anthem status.
• Marshmello's Alone was certified Platinum in the United States in October 2017, and in Canada in April 2018.
• Mike Darlington and Ari Paunonen founded the Uncaged YouTube channel in 2011 (The channel did not officially become titled Uncaged until 2018). As of November 29, 2024, it has grown to 7.5 million subscribers and at least 3.3 billion views. It's most watched video is the music video for Marshmello's Alone with 169 million views.
• Mike Darlington founded the Instinct YouTube channel in 2018. As of November 29, 2024, it has grown to 1.09 million subscribers and at least 529 million views. The channel reached more than 40,000 subscribers before it's first released song, Didrick's Ready To Fly featuring Owl City's Adam Young on January 9, 2018. It's most watched video is Noisestorm's Crab Rave with 333 million views.
• Mike Darlington acquired the label Silk Music to create Monstercat's third brand, Monstercat Silk, in 2021. Within the first week of the announcement, at least 5,000 accounts subscribed to Silk's YouTube channel. As of November 29, 2024, the channel has 301,000 subscribers and at least 105 million views. Its most watched video is the Best of Shingo Nakamura 01 (a 2-hour melodic progressive house mix) with 11 million views, while the most watched track is Kaskade and Ella Vos' Miles To Go with 1.1 million views.
• Unlike Pluto's Everything Black featuring Mike Taylor was certified Gold in Canada in July 2021.
• Vicetone's Nevada and Noisestorm's Crab Rave were certified Gold in September 2021 in Canada and the United States, respectively.

Release Schedule

Originally, Monstercat released three new tracks per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with an hour-long podcast every Tuesday (entitled Monstercat Call of the Wild, previously Monstercat Podcast).

In 2017, after thirty compilation albums (numbered 001 - 030), Monstercat unveiled a major branding titled Monstercat Uncaged and compilation albums featuring 31 songs (including a collaboration of veteran Monstercat artists) and an album mix.

From 2018 to early 2021, with the inclusion of the brand Monstercat Instinct, Monstercat uploaded songs for Uncaged on Mondays and Thursdays, Instinct on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Call of the Wild every Wednesday. On certain occasions, additional releases were uploaded on Wednesdays and Saturdays, consisting of remixes or special releases. Both Instinct and Uncaged compilation albums were increased to 40 songs (without special collaborations) and an album mix (with the exception of Uncaged Vol. 4 which was only 30 songs).

In 2020, album mixes were no longer released along with compilation albums, but were still uploaded on the imprints' respective YouTube channels.

In 2021, with the inclusion of Monstercat Silk, Monstercat also uploaded songs for Silk on Wednesdays and Fridays, and Silk Showcase streamed right before Call of the Wild. Silk Sessions, a DJ session stream like Monstercat TV (MCTV) aired on Saturdays.

In 2021, it was confirmed that Monstercat would be ending the imprint (Uncaged and Instinct) compilation albums after the release of Monstercat Uncaged Vol. 11. As the final compilation albums, Monstercat Instinct Vol. 7 increased to 50 songs and Uncaged Vol. 11 increased to 85 songs, with album mixes uploaded on their imprints' respective YouTube channels.

On March 6, 2023, the release schedule was changed to have Uncaged on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; Silk on Tuesday and Instinct on Thursday.

External Links

• Official Website - https://www.monstercat.com/
• Q&A with Founder Mike Darlington - http://recess.is/blog/entrepreneurship/creating-digital-empire-qa-mike-darlington-ceo-monstercat/