40 Fun Facts About Monstercat

Which retired NBA star released the album Gorilla Warfare on Monstercat in 2023 under the name DJ Diesel?

Shaquille O'Neal already had a platinum record to his name: his hip-hop debut, Shaq Diesel, earned that certificate in 1993, three decades before he made a dubstep album.

On which annual occasion in 2018 did Monstercat release Crab Rave, the Noisestorm single that became a worldwide meme?

April Fools' Day suited what was meant as a small joke, but the video of partying crabs spread online and the song reached number 14 on the US electronic songs chart.

Marshmello's Monstercat breakout hit a new US chart peak in 2019 after his virtual concert in which video game?

Fortnite staged the show in February 2019, and the three-year-old song then climbed to number 28 on the Hot 100, well above its original peak of 60.

In the video for Marshmello's Monstercat hit, a caged rat labelled Joel pokes fun at which rival producer?

Deadmau5, whose first name is Joel, had attacked Marshmello's music in a string of tweets, then deleted them after Marshmello jokingly proposed settling it with a basketball game.

Monstercat supplied the music for the 2017 second-anniversary update of which Psyonix video game?

Rocket League got an 18-song album from the label that July, the first of a long series, after staff from the two companies met during E3 in 2016.

Which Oscar-nominated Cape Fear actress sang on Stickup, a 2015 Monstercat single by Karma Fields and Morten?

Juliette Lewis was no novice at the microphone: she had fronted the rock band Juliette and the Licks for years before releasing a solo album in 2009.

Which virtual reality rhythm game sold ten Monstercat songs in 2019 as its first paid music pack?

Beat Saber, from Czech studio Beat Games, priced the pack at $12.99, and in the same year the studio was bought by Oculus Studios.

To which Canadian city did Monstercat move its offices in 2012, once its two founders had finished university?

Vancouver has been the label's base ever since, and its website has also listed offices in Los Angeles and Singapore.

Which Scandinavian duo, a Monstercat regular, has a name that is an anagram of the surnames Odden and Parsberg?

Pegboard Nerds are a Norwegian and a Dane who met in 2005, and their EP Pink Cloud was released to fund breast cancer research.

Monstercat FM, a round-the-clock stream of the label's music, debuted in December 2014 on which streaming service?

Twitch was just moving into music broadcasting at the time, and the station opened with a DJ set by label artist Stephen Walking.

Which 2016 Marshmello single became the first Monstercat release to earn a US platinum record?

Alone was certified in November 2017, and that year Vice ranked it the eighth best EDM song of all time.

Which online game platform partnered with Monstercat in 2020 so developers could use the label's catalog in their games?

Roblox announced the deal as its chief executive set out plans for a 'metaverse' of interconnected virtual worlds built by its users.

Monstercat began in July 2011 as a channel on which platform, set up to promote its founders' friends and their music?

YouTube is where the label was born, and by October 2011 the channel had settled into uploading new songs three times a week.

In August 2014, Monstercat published a manifesto urging the reform of which area of law affecting musicians?

Copyright was the target because the label wanted musicians to have more freedom to sample one another's recordings.

On which basis has Monstercat traditionally signed artists, an approach that leaves them free to move between labels?

Track by track signing means nobody is tied to an exclusive contract, so the same artist can turn up on rival labels and across Monstercat's own brands.

Noisestorm, the producer behind Monstercat's viral hit Crab Rave, comes from which European country?

Ireland's capital, Dublin, is where he was born Eoin O'Broin, and he later turned his crustacean hit into a video game, Crab Champions.

Noisestorm made the thousands of computer-generated crabs in Monstercat's Crab Rave video using which video game engine?

Unreal Engine 4 powered the video, and its maker Epic Games later rewarded Noisestorm with a development grant for the work.

Which Chicago-area group fronted by two sisters put out its first label single, Killin' It, on Monstercat in 2011?

Krewella went on to top the US dance albums chart in 2013 with the debut album Get Wet, home of the hit Alive.

In January 2018, Monstercat split its catalogue into two brands: the bass-heavy Uncaged and which other?

Instinct focuses on melodic styles such as house and future bass, and the split came with a move from three releases a week to four.

Which progressive house label did Monstercat acquire in February 2021 to form the third brand in its family?

Silk Music kept its director, Jacob Henry, after the deal, and the enlarged label moved to six releases a week, two for each brand.

Which English rock band featured on Kneel Before Me, a 2018 single Monstercat issued jointly with Sumerian Records?

Asking Alexandria were named as an inspiration by Slander, the DJ duo who made the song with fellow American producer Crankdat.

Which Dutch duo from Groningen released the 2016 single Nevada on Monstercat with actress and singer Cozi Zuehlsdorff?

Vicetone found a far bigger audience in 2020, when their remix of Astronomia became the soundtrack to the coffin-dance meme.

Which Israeli psytrance duo released the 2018 album Head of NASA and the 2 Amish Boys through Monstercat?

Infected Mushroom, formed in Haifa in 1996, had released the single Spitfire on the label a year earlier.

Monstercat's 2017 release Saving Light was voted Tune of the Year by listeners of which weekly radio show?

A State of Trance, Armin van Buuren's show, had reportedly never given the prize to a label from outside the genre before Gareth Emery and Standerwick's song won.

Which American music magazine named Monstercat one of the five best independent dance labels of 2017?

Billboard's nod came a month after the label collected its first platinum record.

Monstercat was founded in 2011 by two students who met at the university in which Ontario city?

Waterloo is where the co-founders bonded over music and business, spotting the rise of online video platforms alongside a booming electronic scene.

Which name did Monstercat give its live radio show, syndicated to more than 30 networks including SiriusXM?

Call of the Wild even went virtual in 2019, when a live edition was staged inside the social VR platform Sansar for the label's eighth anniversary.

Which title did Monstercat give its very first compilation album, numbered 001 and released in July 2011?

Launch Week began a run of 30 numbered compilations whose cover art told the continuing story of the label's mascot.

Which former Wanna One singer featured on State of Wonder, a 2021 Monstercat single by producer Inverness?

Kang Daniel, who rose to fame by winning the second season of Produce 101, shared the song with singer Anthony Russo.

Monstercat has been among the brand partners with character skins in which battle arena game from Hi-Rez Studios?

Smite casts players as gods and other mythological figures, and its skin partners have also included Bob Ross, Slipknot and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Which magazine, known for its annual Top 100 DJs poll, named Monstercat its Best Breakthrough Label in 2017?

DJ Mag picked the label ahead of rivals including Discwoman and Honey Soundsystem, six years after two students had started it.

Under which name has Monstercat thrown its own block party and festival near its headquarters since 2017?

Compound skipped 2020, then returned the next year alongside a joint compilation album that carried its name.

Sales of Monstercat's 2017 single Saving Light raised money for Ditch the Label, a charity that fights what?

Bullying is also the subject of the song and its video, and the charity received all the profits from sales that February.

Monstercat announced its own television channel in June 2017 on which free, ad-supported streaming service?

Pluto TV is built around linear channels that imitate traditional broadcast television, and the label's arrived in the same month as a major video game soundtrack deal.

Which producer's Dubstep Killed Rock 'n' Roll became the first song ever released on Monstercat, in July 2011?

Ephixa, an Ontario-based producer, is also known for a viral Charlie Sheen remix and for reworking music from The Legend of Zelda.

Which Monstercat co-founder and longtime chief executive started the label in 2011 with fellow student Ari Paunonen?

Mike Darlington has argued that artists no longer need record labels, so his had to offer a community and a marketing platform they could not find elsewhere.

Monstercat's founders sold the label in May 2025 to which Los Angeles distribution, publishing and analytics company?

Create Music Group kept both founders on as advisers to a new president, ending 14 years of ownership by the pair.

Which piano-playing producer's Two Fold Pt. 1 became the first full-length album released on Monstercat, in 2014?

Haywyre later interned at the label, and during that stint he filmed a piano reworking of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal that went viral.

Which London drum and bass label paired its artists with Monstercat's for a joint compilation album in 2025?

Hospital Records and its partner prepared the album at a four-day writing camp in London in February 2024, where 23 artists produced 24 demos.

Which synthwave act, makers of the album Endless Summer, released two remix collections on Monstercat in 2017 and 2019?

The Midnight pair an Atlanta singer-songwriter with a Danish producer, and their motto is a Japanese phrase about a wistful awareness that nothing lasts.