Why has Periphery had more commercial success than Monuments/Tesseract/Etc?

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I think the thing that makes them unique is that they appeal to both the younger screamo fans while simultaneously appealing to the prog fans. These are sub genres of metal that rarely would intersect and I think that they are the pioneers of this “djent” sub genre. It is making intelligent, more educated elements of prog accessible to the screamo fans in a way that inspires many of them to take up guitar and learn theory and timing fundamentals that math just didn’t challenge them with in school. At the same time, the screamo element may appeal to the proggy fans for just a pure, animalistic, primal release of energy. It’s a fantastic juxtaposition.

 

[jaxadam]

Is Periphery even that popular? I figured they were about the same scale as The Contortionist, who really aren't too "commercially successful." A quick check on last.fm verified that suspicion.

I almost feel like the premise of this thread is that being a successful band means you sell more than 500 tickets per show or have a youtube channel...

I'm not trying to knock on Periphery, they are making a better run than I will ever pull off in the music industry, but I wouldn't say they are commercially successful. Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, or Opeth are considerably closer to that than Periphery. I know maybe one friend who has heard of Periphery. Maybe I'm just too old for the new kids in town.

I’m in the same boat. I don’t own a single album by them and doubt I’ve even heard one song all the way through. I just figured they were a flavor of the month on a few forums. Maybe I’m in a bubble, but I barely know anyone out of these “click and share” forums and SoundClouds who have even heard of them.

 

[Demiurge]

I'm not trying to knock on Periphery, they are making a better run than I will ever pull off in the music industry, but I wouldn't say they are commercially successful. Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, or Opeth are considerably closer to that than Periphery. I know maybe one friend who has heard of Periphery. Maybe I'm just too old for the new kids in town.

To be fair, the premise was about comparing Periphery to their contemporaries in terms of relative success. I think there's evidence to show that they're the big fish in their own pond, but you're right- there are bigger bands that have had more success. Then again, though, we could be comparing those 4 bands you've cited and someone could say, "oh sure, Opeth is big, but not like Metallica or Ozzy."

 

[jaxadam]

To be fair, the premise was about comparing Periphery to their contemporaries in terms of relative success. I think there's evidence to show that they're the big fish in their own pond, but you're right- there are bigger bands that have had more success. Then again, though, we could be comparing those 4 bands you've cited and someone could say, "oh sure, Opeth is big, but not like Metallica or Ozzy."

Good point...

 

[Flappydoodle]

Better songwriting, honestly

Good at social media and branding

Right place, right time

 

[USMarine75]

Unbounded and relentless self promotion and brand marketing?

 

[nickgray]

Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, or Opeth are considerably closer to that than Periphery

They're all much older bands though. Periphery's first album was released only in 2010. All the bands that you've mentioned started out in the 90s. Plus times have changed as well, the tech and the music business looks a lot different nowadays.

 

[Taylord]

Is Periphery even that popular? I figured they were about the same scale as The Contortionist, who really aren't too "commercially successful." A quick check on last.fm verified that suspicion.

I almost feel like the premise of this thread is that being a successful band means you sell more than 500 tickets per show or have a youtube channel...

I'm not trying to knock on Periphery, they are making a better run than I will ever pull off in the music industry, but I wouldn't say they are commercially successful. Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, or Opeth are considerably closer to that than Periphery. I know maybe one friend who has heard of Periphery. Maybe I'm just too old for the new kids in town.

Yeah, I just meant popular relative to this scene. I only heard of this website because of them. Several bands launched from here within a couple year window, all with a different take on this new sound so it's just interesting why some did better than others. It comes down to a little bit everything...Outgoing personalities and social media presence, each member really being a unique character in their own right, strong business minded, more pop sensibilities in the songs, not being serious all the time...and luck/right place right time.

 

[Wildebeest]

Is Periphery even that popular? I figured they were about the same scale as The Contortionist, who really aren't too "commercially successful." A quick check on last.fm verified that suspicion.

Periphery has more than twice the amount of monthly listeners than The Contortionist do on Spotify.

 

[fantom]

Periphery has more than twice the amount of monthly listeners than The Contortionist do on Spotify.

Missing the forest for the trees.

 

[bostjan]

Periphery is played on Sirius radio, and did the Grammy thing. Not sure how anyone thinks they are a small time band at this point.

 

[narad]

Periphery is played on Sirius radio, and did the Grammy thing. Not sure how anyone thinks they are a small time band at this point.

Huge time band in a small time genre?

 

[bostjan]

Huge time band in a small time genre?

Pretty accurate.

 

[Mathemagician]

Misha. It's because of Misha.
I love all the other dudes, but Misha is one driven MF. He is always doing something, and that generates a lot of interest. Face time is super important. The whole band has a very social-media friendly style personality and the way that they shitpost makes you feel like you're part of the group. That works wonders for the numbers.

Of course, it also helps that as @Wucan said, the gear that they've attached their name to is actually....pretty solid- and they were savvy enough to land large-scale, major company endorsements early on due to how well known they were almost immediately due to all of the attention the early demos got.

I mean you compare Jackson / PRS / Ibanez to any other set of endorsements out there- how are you going to move more product?
Monuments had Mayones / Aristides on board, who make excellent equipment, but those are $3000 guitars. Your local music store will never have one on the wall.
When you think AxeFX, who do you think of? Right as modeling took off like a damn rocket ship.
They sling guitars, they sling basses, they sling pedals, they sling amps, they sling plugins, they started how many companies?


It was the right dudes, in the right place, at the right time, who knew all the right people and were prepared to make the push.

This covers a lot of ground and is very complimentary of their efforts. I don’t really listen to them but what I have heard I didn’t mind at all. And the guitars the members use are drool-worthy a good 97.314% of the time.

They came in with eyes wide open knowing the game. You make music to sell it, and if you can you sell other stuff to continue making music. You want an ecosystem that cross-sells itself.

Sometimes artists would hide their “super tone settings/secrets”. Periphery would sell you a plug in that sounds exactly like them. Why? Because you aren’t periphery and you aren’t going to write a periphery song. So whatever you do with it is your business. And most fans just want to play along to the songs. Remember this wasn’t that common 10+ years ago, as the modeling tech wasn’t quite there. They rode that wave too.

The online presence is a masterclass in marketing. Metal is niche, and sub-genres can be more niche/temporary flashes in the pan. These guys did it first, and kept improving to do it best, and then did so selling music with screaming and low tuned instruments.

In an industry where lots of bands call it quits due to dwindling album/merch/tour sales these guys kept selling and getting bigger. And it worked. I’ve got my eyes on gear the various members use at all time just to see if there’s anything cool, and I would only recognize Scarlet or Marigold by ear.

 

[Randy]

Not to be a, like, djent hipster or whatever but if we're gonna compare Periphery to all those dudes, yeah djent is common thread and IMO the best djent happened before Periphery was really Periphery

Granddaddy of djent obviously and, IMO, unsurpassed in the aesthetic



I don't think Periphery is as derivative of Meshuggah as it is of Sikth, who IMO is the second evolution of djent and also predates Periphery. But I mean, this compositionally sounds a lot like Periphery with different vocals



The timeline gets wavier here, I think you've got the original Bulb demos and stuff, but I still don't think "band" yet. I'd assume there were maybe some Bulb+Orbo demos in there that might have been "Periphery" but still not a band yet IMO.

You had some other guys, probably some Tesseract demos out there but IMO you didn't have a BAND-band still until probably Fellsilent



After that I think you have djent in it's full stride, Periphery as a real band, Tesseract, Chimpspanner, Nolly, The Safety Fire, all that stuff.

Anyway, I think that's relevent because IMO creatively, Meshuggah continued and even improved, Sikth continued and improved, Fellsilent died but somewhat evolved with Browne and Monuments but didn't have the same footing.

Periphery took off as a totally different thing, it is like a lifestyle brand. Misha is Periphery, Periphery is Misha but Misha is also Horizon devices, and the Jackson sig, and to an extent Getgood Drums and all that.

I remember sometime around 2008 being at party and pulling up a bunch of Bulb demos to show people the quality of the production for being a bedroom recording. The mix, the musicianship, the drum programming, everything. My musician friends were impressed but more notably, people who didn't even play instruments were impressed. Like "wow this is fun and crazy and chaotic and this is some dude's Soundclick?"

And after Periphery got signed and they still wore Misha and his brand on their sleeve, it was like every audience they got infront of were equally impressed by that all the way up to the top. Just like in Bulb's early days, it still had that subtext of "you like this? well you can do it too, just buy --------" and it all was baked into the cake.

You could listen to Periphery, you could play the same guitars as Periphery, play the same amp or use the same presets, use the same drum samples, infact you could even HIRE Periphery (well, Misha) to make you sound like Periphery. That with the social media stuff and whatever always made them come across equal parts impressive and accessible.

At this point, Misha and Periphery are a brand way beyond those things. There's still some of that djent stuff at their core but at this point, that band as a unit and everyone in that band have their tentacles in so many things it's less about "wow that really good djent band" and more about "wow, those guys that sound good no matter what they do".

 

[narad]

Also people don't realize but from Periphery II onward all their riffs and guitar solos have been composed by Swedish songwriting legend Max Martin, which certainly played a big part.

 

[Masoo2]

Also people don't realize but from Periphery II onward all their riffs and guitar solos have been composed by Swedish songwriting legend Max Martin, which certainly played a big part.

Like 99% certain this is a joke but gotta ask anyways: source?

Never thought Max Martin would be the type of cross genres. I know Rob Cavallo and to a very small extent Drew Fulk (aka WZRBLD) cross genres a bit, but I always knew Martin to be the 100% pop type.

Again I get this is likely a joke about the overall catchiness and accessibility of Periphery's work (why they succeeded the most imo), but if it's serious man I'd love to read about it.

 

[mastapimp]

source?

Heard it from Scott Storch, who also ghostwrote their beats.

 

[MrWulf]

That may or may not be a riff on Green Day's last album PR push, lmao.

 

[Wildebeest]

Missing the forest for the trees.

I don't think last.fm numbers are worth any sort of merit when discussing popularity, especially if you ignore all the signature gear that Periphery has and The Contortionist doesn't have.