How Monstercat Used YouTube to Become an EDM Family

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Monstercat?

In the beginning, Monstercat, an independent electronic music record label, was known as Monstercat Media on YouTube. At the time they were just getting their start, another well-known music channel on YouTube called UKF Dubstep, a music promotion channel, was flourishing with millions of views. To this day UKF Dubstep has roughly 6.1 million subscribers and Monstercat has 6.4 million subscribers. So, how did an independent record label, that started 2 years after UKF Dubstep, obtain such growth? It is simple, Monstercat is more than a record label that sells or promotes songs, it is a family that creates a unique musical experience and delivers it on YouTube. Monstercat utilizes all music platforms, but the impact that YouTube had, in the beginning, is central to what Monstercat is today.

So What Sets Monstercat Apart on YouTube?

1. Monstercat positioned itself as a musical destination.

From the start, Monstercat positioned itself as a musical destination for the many electronic music listeners on YouTube, not just a place where one genre was being promoted. Monstercat color coded every genre with a unique color and created genre playlists to organize the experience. For example, purple was the Dubstep color, and from there on out, any YouTube, iTunes or Beatport release with the color purple on the album cover was easily identifiable by the fan base as a Dubstep song. This goes a long way because as Monstercat aged, the number of genres that were featured on the label grew and each was assigned a color which enabled easy identification of the genre and a way to put a personality on the genre with a color. This system of color coding genres and creating playlists for each genre created the feeling that the listener was entering an easily navigatable destination to hear great music. Monstercat has stopped using the color coding system and now focuses on individual artwork created for each release, offering a unique experience each time, but the color coding system helped them get their start. 

2. Monstercat offers an audio-visual experience. 

Monstercat doesn't just play music with their logo in the middle of a black screen on YouTube, they use a uniquely crafted music visualizer that includes the Monstercat logo beside the song name and artist name, and they previously color coded the visualizer for each applicable genre. As mentioned above, instead of color coding now, the background of each visualizer is the unique album artwork made for each release. This creates the feeling that the listener is truly experiencing the music, not just listening to music. 

3. Monstercat evolves.

Monstercat did not sit idly by as the electronic music scene changed and new genres came and went. When new genres were created, Monstercat was there with a place for them in the Monstercat home, with a new color to represent itself. Monstercat constantly evolves the quality of its own artwork, designs, and even the music that it accepts from artists. Monstercat grew with its artists, and they grew with Monstercat. From the beginning, you could watch as a decent YouTube channel became a well known and respected independent electronic music record label, and how decent music producers became EDM superstars. Monstercat is always evolving and making sure that they always have something more to offer than just music. Whether that is creating new music videos, podcasts, or creating unique Monstercat artwork for each release, Monstercat knows how to stay fresh. 

4. Monstercat created a family. 

Monstercat achieves this connected family feeling with their Monstercat brand personality. The Monstercat logo features a cat drawn with a fun feeling art style. This fun feeling style was also apparent in the selection of colors for genres and the artwork that is featured on each major album release. Monstercat is a "real" cat, viewable in the album artwork alongside various artwork renditions of the artists on that specific album. This brand personality depicted through the artwork is key to the Monstercat brand, and I think is key to the Monstercat family, due to the connection this figure creates with listeners. 

What can be learned from Monstercat?

So what does all this mean? For record labels, it means that music is not the main attraction on a platform like YouTube. Simply uploading music with a static background image will not allow a listener to truly experience the music. Whether this experience is created with music visualizers, music videos, or other methods of visually displaying what the song is, record labels must find a way to create an audio-visual experience for viewers on YouTube. Record labels must make their YouTube channels a musical destination with different paths and playlists to make their listeners want to come back. Furthermore, record labels have to always evolve with their audience, genre, and the available technology, staying true to the original brand but improving along the way in order to stay relevant. Lastly, record labels must create a community through a unique brand identity that connects with listeners and can be portrayed on all platforms and communications, not just on YouTube.