Monstercat Milestones: 1,000 Singles

MCS1000 is here and we couldn’t have done it without you!

You are the reason we are celebrating this monumental milestone!

The Monstercat story starts with the incredible community that has made every magical moment possible. A thousand cataloged singles is more than just a number, taking into account everyone supporting the artists, all the time and effort that went into the development of each song, and all of the vastly different circumstances under which each song was discovered. Today, we want to contextualize this achievement by highlighting a few fun facts about Monstercat singles!

Every single has a story!

We are so incredibly proud of this achievement because every one of these songs has had a life of its own. Whether it be an overnight revelation that evolved into a banger or a multiyear journey that resulted in a groundbreaking game-changer, we’ve worked with all of your favourite Monstercat artists to make sure that the results are well worth your listening time.

We are dedicated to making sure we put thought and care into each and every song that comes out with us. It isn’t always easy. There’s a balance to be struck between artists’ needs and wants and the community’s needs and wants, and we are super lucky to have an incredible A&R team sitting in the middle to balance both out.

“Sometimes an artist will hand over a track and it’s basically done and ready to go. In that case, it’s really simple. Other times, we get sent over more of an idea or a start to a track, that’s when we give our feedback and work with the artist to create the best possible final product. We’re also able to introduce our artists to one another or to additional resources. Especially for some of the smaller artists that might not have their network as robust as others just yet, this connection and feedback is really useful to bring the tracks to the next level.” – Jon Winter, Head of A&R

Our A&R team, day in and day out, demonstrate their dedication to the development of our artists by being there for them.

“We lend our support to the artists that we work with in whatever area they need to make their song the best it can be. That might be someone needing a vocalist or an artist needing help processing a vocal. That might be two artists wanting to collaborate with each other and we connect the pieces. It boils down to using our knowledge to help these artists put out the best possible product.” – Orri Sachar, Head of Music

The artists we’ve worked with these last nine years have all been really amazing people. They are some of the most talented creatives in the industry and, wherever they are in their journey as musicians, we want to be a resource for them. After all, these artists are our friends and we want to give them the chance to succeed in all of their endeavours!

Singles Templates Through the Years

There are a number of defining elements of singles, and one area we’ve paid close attention to since day one is how they look! Going right back to the beginning, it’s pretty clear that the more visual art-focused side of the brand hadn’t become as prevalent yet. Monstercat became associated with the familiar large, bold lettering and the less is more approach worked well for our first template!

Reaching the tail end of 2012, we decided that it was time for us to try out a new layout for single releases! Designed by Monstercat’s own Jon Winter, this second template used for singles featured the artist and track names in the upper left-hand corner, partially bordered.

In April 2013, we introduced the iconic V3 MCS layout. Also designed by Jon Winter, this modern template shed the Monstercat text and featured only the artist’s name and the song title. Tracks like Nitro Fun’s “Nn April”n April 2013, we iSn April 2013, we int”n April 2013, we introduced the iconic V3 MCS layout. Also designed by Jon Winter, this modern template sh

During the V3 era, we used another template for a select number of releases. One of the finest examples of songs that used this limited template is Hellberg’s “Turing t”uring the V3 era, we used another template for a select number of releases. One of the finest examples of songs that

“Hellberg’s “The Girl” is such an interesting song in our history. That song, for me, really opened up the possibilities for working with poppier mainstream music on Monstercat. It was probably our first big track that didn’t just fit in this internet kid world of Monstercat. “The Girl” and Hellberg in general set the foundation for Instinct being a thing! He was one of our first champions that was very consistent in pushing that progressive house pop dance kind of thing. That song is just so good!” – Orri Sachar, Head of Music

In March of 2015, we uncovered the Polaroid-esque V4 template. Singles that came out during this stage, such as Vicetone’s “Nn March of 2015, we uncovered ”n MarcAn March ”n March of 2015, we uncovered the Polaroid-esque V4 template. Singles that came out during this stage, such as Vicetone’s “Nevada (feat. Cozi Zuehlsdorff)” and “All Alone” from Grabbitz and Pegboard Nerds, had their own unique artwork that mad

“We had been working on and off again with Vicetone for years, and they were one of the bigger acts to have released with the label. We were always excited when a new demo would come in from the guys. When we got the demo for “Nevada”, it was just an instrumental. We expressed wanting to find a vocal for it and we went back and forth with Vicetone on that idea for what felt like ages! We finally connected them with Cozi, she wrote the top line for Nevada, and the rest is history.” – Orri Sachar, Head of Music

The fifth and most recent template took the final step necessary to properly showcase the unique art now accompanying our artists’ music. Removing the bottom border and spreading the artwork across the entire surface of the image, the Monstercat now lives next to a small barcode stamped in the bottom left-hand side of the overlay. So many amazing songs have come out during these last four years, including the one and only “Crab Rave” by Noisestorm.

This celebration of 1000th singles is about celebrating the music that we’ve shared together since the beginning of Monstercat. Being able to share these milestones with our community gives us the motivation to keep innovating, keep discovering great music, and keep building new ways for Monstercat to share and engage with our community.

Thank you for 1000 singles, here’s to many more!