The band's early work earned Cloud Cult several offers from record labels, but all were rejected in favor of self-publishing.

[3] In 1997, lead singer Craig Minowa formed Earthology Records on his organic farm, powered by geothermal energy and built partially from reclaimed wood and recycled plastic.

In January 2004, Cloud Cult added Mara Stemm on bass and released Aurora Borealis just six months later.

In 2005 Cloud Cult released Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus, which Pitchfork Media called "insane genius" and rated the album with an 8.3.

The Denver Post ranked the 2007 release The Meaning of 8 as one of the top ten albums of the past decade, along with bands like Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips and Radiohead.

Cloud Cult released a new album entitled Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) on April 8, 2008.

They continued to tour and appeared for the second year straight at the "St Johns Block Party" outdoors in front of over 7,000 fans in Rochester, Minnesota.

In the spring of 2010, Cloud Cult became a contributing artist to Think Out Loud, a compilation album serving the homeless in the Twin Cities.

The lead single for the album, "Running With The Wolves" was released in April 2010 and received local and national radio play.

In spring 2011, Cloud Cult music was featured in a commercial on BBC America for Petrobras, a Brazilian energy company.

On May 4, 2012 after an 8-month hiatus, Cloud Cult announced a surprise show at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls campus, about 40 minutes away from the Twin Cities.

[13] Throughout this campaign, the band released one song per week to supporters crowd-funding the effort, along with a corresponding clip from the film and a message from Craig Minowa.

Cloud Cult has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue,[17] recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue.