Monstercat Artists

Monstercat (formerly known as Monstercat Media) is a Canadian electronic music record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Founded in 2011 by Mike Darlington and Ari Paunonen, the label released regular compilation albums featuring music from various artists, beginning with the release of its first compilation album, ''Monstercat 001 – Launch Week''. Until the release of ''Monstercat 030 – Finale'' in 2017, each compilation was given a name and depicted the story of the aforementioned mascot in the album cover. This preceded a rebranding of the label, with a new series of albums titled ''Monstercat Uncaged.'' In 2018, Monstercat introduced a new brand titled "Instinct". In 2021, Monstercat acquired electronic label Silk Music to form a third brand titled "Monstercat Silk". The compilations ended the same year with the release of ''Monstercat Uncaged Vol. 11''.

Monstercat has featured many notable artists, including Pegboard Nerds, Vicetone, and Seven Lions. Monstercat has also released soundtrack albums for various video games, including ''Fortnite'', ''Rocket League'' and ''Beat Saber''.

The label is best known for the 2016 release of the song " Alone" by American DJ Marshmello, which reached Platinum status in the United States and Canada in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The April Fool's Day release of "Crab Rave" by Irish music producer Noisestorm became an internet meme for months after its release.

History

Founding (2011–2012)

Monstercat Media was founded on 1 July 2011 by Mike Darlington (born 1989) and Ari Paunonen (born 1989/90), two university students from Waterloo, Ontario. The label's YouTube channel, which served as a medium to promote their friends and their music, was created the same day, and began a tri-weekly upload schedule in October. The young students were later responsible for the creation of the label's uniform compilation albums.

The team moved to their current offices in Vancouver in 2012 after Darlington and Paunonen finished school.

Building the label, first tour, and Marshmello (2013–2016)

In July 2014, Monstercat surpassed one million in record sales across the label. When asked about the label's model, Darlington said:

People don't need record labels anymore. Artists can do everything on their own. So we either had to do it for them better or provide a platform and marketing tool they can't find on their own. That's where the community concept came for Monstercat. We created a brand that fans can use to discover music and hatartists can use as a platform for getting their music out there.

In August 2014, Monstercat published a manifesto calling for the reform of copyright law. In it, they described their desire to allow musicians more freedom in sampling other musicians' recordings.

In December 2014, Monstercat launched Monstercat FM as part of live-streaming service Twitch's start in music broadcasting. Monstercat FM is a 24/7 radio station-like Twitch stream featuring many of Monstercat's releases from throughout their history as a label. The launch event for the stream was a DJ set by Monstercat artist Stephen Walking. Monstercat FM was eventually added to YouTube and Microsoft-owned live-streaming website Mixer.

Since 2015, Monstercat has participated in multiple music festivals. One such festival was the Amsterdam Dance Event. ''Billboard'' described their 2015 show as "a three-hour mixer outing".

In May 2016, Monstercat signed American producer Marshmello's single, " Alone". Its music video has amassed over 2 billion views combined across YouTube, including a label record 161 million views on Monstercat's YouTube channel These views contributed to the artist earning $21 million the year after the video's release.

Partnerships, awards and evolution (2017–2020)

In June 2017, Monstercat partnered with Psyonix to promote the second anniversary of the video game ''Rocket League'' by releasing '' Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 1'', an 18-song album from artists who had previously signed songs to Monstercat, including Slushii, Aero Chord and Vicetone. The album was released on 5 July 2017. Monstercat also announced their own television channel, Monstercat TV, on the Pluto TV television platform the same month.

In July 2017, Monstercat won ''DJ Mag''s Best Breakthrough Label, competing against other labels such as Discwoman, Tuskegee Music, Perspectives Digital and Honey Soundsystem. Monstercat has hosted an annual block party near their headquarters, "Monstercat Compound", since 2017.

In November 2017, Monstercat received the label's first certified platinum record for the 2016 song " Alone" by Marshmello. In an email to ''Billboard'', Mike Darlington expressed his gratitude towards the collaboration and expressed his praise for Marshmello's success.

In December 2017, Monstercat was named one of the five best independent dance labels of 2017 by ''Billboard''.

On the week of 1 January 2018, Monstercat announced a split in branding into two distinct themes, "Uncaged" and "Instinct", citing the diversity of their music library. This was accompanied by the creation of a separate channel, named Monstercat: Instinct. The Instinct brand features music that has a prominent focus on melodic aspects, including genres such as house and future bass. The change included a retirement of the tri-weekly release schedule in favour of a release schedule of four times a week and a podcast episode in-between.

In another first for the label, 9 August saw a collaborative single with Sumerian Records

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