in july 2005, monstercat's current ceo - mike darlington - along with ari pauonen, monstercat's current coo, created the monstercat youtube channel as a way for their friends to promote themselves and share music with each other. the two created compilation albums to provide artists with an easy method of releasing their music, as well as lessening the competitiveness between the artists. monstercat's first compilation album, launch week, featured seven artists: feint, halo nova (currently varien / koinu), stephen walking, ephixa, neilio, arion and going quantum.