I'd like to call your attention to OnlySimchas.com, a free website dedicated to announcing simchas to the community at large. It's a great concept. Perhaps, inevitably though, it's also drawn the attention of some simcha services providers. A number of them have decided to advertise on the site, and that makes sense. Advertising simcha services to a population that is interested in simchas, whether their own or a friends, is a reasonable business move.
A more troubling development is that some in the industry have begun to use the information contained in the simcha postings to make unsolicited targeted sales calls directly to the engaged couple (in the case of an engagement announcement). I'm not talking about one band making a single polite sales call to introduce themselves to a potential lead. I've been hearing from clients for some time that they have been receiving multiple, aggressive, high-pressure sales calls from a number of bands as soon as their simcha was posted on the site. I imagine these bands must be achieving some level of success with these tactics, but it strikes me as foolish. They are alienating many potential clients and damaging their professional reputation. In many cases, these clients didn't even post their simcha info to the site; it was done without their knowledge by friends of the chosson and kallah.
One recent client, whom the band had played for in the past, and who is using us again, informed that he'd gotten many calls from a number of bands. He found them to be very aggressive and unpleasant to deal with. These bands would respond to a polite "no" by slashing their price and badmouthing their competitors. Very unpleasant.
At any rate, I have to wonder if this "get the job at all costs" mentality is good for these bands themselves. When bands set the bar for competition from a price standpoint at their cost, it makes their own long-term existence less likely. Rent, promotion, salaries, trade memberships, etc. cost money. No office can survive long-term booking jobs at scale. Such pricing tactics also affect their competitors. A good band deserves a premium, but some clients will use the prices they've been quoted by others as a benchmark. It lowers the rates for the industry as a whole. Now, I'm not talking about bands bringing prices down from an exorbitant rate to something more reasonable. I'm talking about bands pricing jobs at or just above the wages the musicians will be paid for playing the affair. I fail to see how they will survive, if the way they're booking their jobs is on price at those margins.
The customers lose out too when they book those bands in these situations, because, to save money, the bands are sending out B and C level musicians who will work for less, rather than the A list musicians who played on the band's demo. It's quite misleading and to my mind unethical. Every band has to substitute musicians on occasion. But, it's one thing to swap one A list drummer for another due to unforseen circumstances, and it's another thing entirely to play a client a demo of A list players when you know that the band they will be getting will have many B or C list musicians in it.
Also, these bands seem to be unaware of the cumulative effect of such calls. Even if they've only contacted the client two or three times, they ought to realize that other bands have been doing the same and that as a result, the client has been fielding many high-pressure sales calls. Not the most pleasant way to enjoy the "afterglow" of what should be a special time in this person's life.
In light of this, is "Only Simchas" good for the JM industry?
I'd be interested in hearing perspectives from simcha band clients and potential future clients as well as from bands engaging in this practices and others affected by it.
