“Growing with YouTube means growing an audience that is generally younger and might not go to shows,” he says.
While Darlington appreciates the flexibility that the genre-free approach offers, he also recognizes the schisms it can create.
Monstercat’s releases run the stylistic gamut, from Pegboard Nerds’ searing dubstep and Vicetone’s nuanced big room to the melodic bass music of Fractal and Au5. “That was an amazing feeling because I’d been told from day one you can’t make enough to be an artist if you don’t tour.”Īs Monstercat gears up for its first North American tour, Darlington admits that touring has posed a major challenge to date. “That was when I realized this was becoming something,” says Darlington. Artists began phoning Darlington to tell him they had quit their day jobs. A fan submitted a cartoon of a toothy black cat mascot celebrating on a summit, giving birth to the label’s logo. After its seventh compilation album began climbing the iTunes dance charts in June, the label’s fan-fueled “Operation Dethroned” campaign helped the label notch its first No. Anytime they did a campaign or a deal, I would learn from it.”Ģ012 proved a landmark year for Monstercat as well. Most importantly, it built an ally and a friend and we all learned together. “It helped us prove we’re not just an Internet thing. Darlington says the signing was more significant from an experiential standpoint than a financial one. Krewella signed with Columbia later that year, becoming one of the first EDM acts to be picked up by a major label. The great thing about Monstercat is that we like to sound different, so I thought why not? That track was ‘Killin’ It,’ their first official single.” I remember listening and thinking the production was good and the vocals were something I hadn’t heard before. “We weren’t that big then, maybe 100,000 subscribers. “I was very shocked because no one calls me out of the blue,” says Darlington. In early 2012, Darlington received a cold call from Jake Udell, the manager of a then-unknown Chicago trio called Krewella, persuading him to listen to their demo. People go to YouTube to find music to use in their videos and then that traffic comes back to original source of music. “It’s the only place where you can put up a track, leave it alone and then come in a couple weeks and it has 5,000 hits because of the way you’ve tagged it. “YouTube is the most organic of any platform,” says Darlington. As their dedicated YouTube fan base swelled, they became increasingly involved in music promotion and scouting, and a fledgling media company soon took on the trappings of a modern record label. Monstercat began as a YouTube channel that Darlington and his friends used to share music and support each other’s tracks.
Our fans know it’s available, but if you look at the iTunes charts we almost always have an album sitting in the top 10.” The artists know that and they’re fine with it. “I believe in music being available everywhere,” says Darlington. Darlington is an anti-corporate Bitcoin enthusiast whose penchant for defying convention is integral to the Monstercat mentality. Most impressively, Monstercat has enjoyed such success while making all of its music available for free.
It’s not just like we grew fans, but we grew fans who are actually purchasing music.”ĭaft Punk, DJ Snake & Lil Jon Lead Mid-Year SoundScan Dance/Electronic Charts It’s one thing to say we built something on YouTube, but with the numbers to back it up you can see we actually did something. “We had to grow on our own and from a community standpoint. “We didn’t have a traditional model or big artists that built us as a company,” says Darlington.
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