Recognizing Monstercat’s Daniel Turcotte

Presenting a very special Staff Acknowledgement blog post celebrating the career achievements of Daniel Turcotte, Commercial Director at Monstercat!

A significant part of Monstercat’s growth over the years has been cultivated from one employee in particular, and Canada’s electronic music scene in general has felt the impact from his dedication. Daniel Turcotte, Monstercat’s Commercial Director, has been an influential force working to shape artist sustainability, aligning Monstercat’s goals not only with Canada’s artists but with artists on a global scale.

Daniel started his journey at Monstercat in 2014 working part-time as a Publishing Administrator while he completed his MA in Popular Music and Culture at Western University. In 2015, he moved to Vancouver to join the company full-time as Catalogue Manager, being responsible for the administration of the company’s entire music catalogue. While in the position of Catalogue Manager, Daniel always went over and above to find ways to build the commercial side of the Monstercat business. One of his many initiatives was to build and grow Monstercat’s synchronization licensing department. When Daniel started, Monstercat’s annual synchronization licensing revenues were $30,000 USD. Today, they are over $2 Million USD.

Based on Daniel’s successes and savvy ability to creatively maximize the amount of revenues for Monstercat and its artists, he was promoted to Head of Business Affairs in 2017. As Head of Business Affairs, Daniel’s role expanded as he took charge of developing Monstercat’s global licensing framework with digital service providers (DSPs), negotiating catalogue licensing deals with DSPs worldwide in established and emerging markets, which further increased the amount of revenues Monstercat could earn and pay to its artists. “The global licensing frameworks Daniel created required a high level of technical knowledge and sophistication, all of which Daniel taught himself” says Monstercat co-founder Ari Paunonen. Working with Monstercat’s business technology team, he ensured Monstercat had the capability to deliver music, receive timely reporting from DSPs, and accurately collect and distribute royalties to artists on a monthly basis. The systems and frameworks Daniel helped create facilitated a successful transition of Monstercat's 3000+ track catalogue to a new distribution partner at the beginning of 2019.

Monstercat’s continued growth and success led to an organization of over 40 staff towards the end of 2018 and required leadership to support in aligning cross-functional departments and cultivating a culture of inclusiveness and collaboration. Daniel’s demonstration of competence and proactiveness to continually identify areas of improvement in the business and deliver meaningful results earned him a promotion to be Monstercat’s Commercial Director overseeing Digital Operations, Sync & Partnerships, Streaming & Radio, Live Programming, Business and Legal Affairs. As CEO Mike Darlington states, “Daniel often states that we are the “Stewards” of our artist’s copyright meaning that we have a responsibility to best represent their art. Daniel has a fierce passion for identifying new monetization streams for our roster but also advocates for the artists best long term interests as well. This is what gave me so much confidence in his ability to take on our Commercial Director role.”

Accountable for Monstercat’s growth and overseeing partnerships, business affairs, market development and more, he’s paved the way for the label to expand the way it has and branch out to include new ways to provide revenue opportunities for the artists Monstercat works with.

On his appointment as Monstercat’s Commercial Director, Daniel identified the growth of electronic music in China and established licensing frameworks with major partners in the region. Being positioned early in the market resulted in market share growth in the region and ultimately an investment into a regional office in Singapore. “Daniel was instrumental in organizing the pieces to make the Singapore office a reality. The APAC office would not exist without him.” Stephen Dowler, Head of APAC region recalls.

Publishing plays a major role in Monstercat’s business model. Daniel has been instrumental in establishing rights administration capabilities to ensure the registration of works alongside active Sync licensing activities to ensure Monstercat’s publishing obligation exceeds industry standards. A lot of the Monstercat music you’ll hear in some of your favourite video games - Beat Saber, Roblox, Fortnite, Rocket League and more have all been a result of exceptional collaboration efforts between Gavin Johnson (Head of Gaming) and Daniel Turcotte working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to ensure his teams success. Gavin noted that “Turcotte not only has been an invaluable resource to myself over the years, but he has also been instrumental in navigating and supporting major Sync & Partnership projects we have developed at Monstercat across many different verticals.”

Monstercat is proud to have witnessed Daniel’s advocacy and representation for Independent music. Daniel proudly sits on the Board of Directors for CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association) and as Vice President for Music BC. He oversaw $800k (CAD) in funding to the Canadian music sector, including the creation of over 1,300 jobs and 1,000 artists supported. He has worked with the Canadian Government to advocate for more funding to go directly to the music sector. When it comes to the music industry, it can often be difficult for both artists and organizations to get the proper tools needed to be successful. Everything from music programs in schools to individual artist teams all need support to get their voices heard and help create new generations of artists and music to come after them. It’s individuals like Daniel Turcotte that recognize that need and head straight to the source to help keep the world of music spinning.

If you want to support organizations that give back directly to the music and the artists that make it, look no further than Daniel Turcotte’s involvement. You can learn more about the CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association) here as well as MusicBC here. You can also follow Daniel Turcotte on LinkedIn and check out what he’s up to with Monstercat!