FAQ’s

As a booking agency, JRA focuses on facilitating live concert appearances for our artists. For media appearances, interviews, or TV and film opportunities, the artist’s management team would be the best contact. Management contact information can typically be found on the artist’s official website in the Contact section.

We ask that contracts be returned within 2 weeks of receiving them. If you did not receive your contract or need a new copy, please feel welcome to reach out to JRA’s contract administrator at kathryn@jeffroberts.com.

This is also sometimes referred to as the artist’s fee: this is the dollar amount that the artist is guaranteed to receive for their time and expenses.

Our artists have carefully planned budgets, so we typically ask that the host help cover expenses up front to offset travel costs before the artist arrives. In some instances, a love offering in addition to a smaller guarantee can work, but it does require specific circumstances to be feasible. We would love to talk through the details with you, so please feel welcome to reach out to a JRA agent directly!

Thank you for thinking of our artists for your special day! Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming number of requests for these types of events and the hectic touring schedules our artists keep, we are not able to fulfill such requests at this time. We appreciate your understanding and wish you all the best as you prepare for your celebration!

We want to be transparent that our artists require compensation for their performances due to the significant costs associated with touring like travel, staff, and overhead. A touring artist operates similarly to a church in that their income is generated over a limited number of days each week, and each event plays an important role in keeping their ministry operating.

That said, there are ways to make a benefit event work for everyone! We often recommend securing sponsorships to help cover the artist’s expenses, which allows all ticket revenue to go directly toward your cause. Sponsors also benefit from the exposure that comes with being associated with the event and the artist.

After the agent has received the offer, they will review it to make sure everything is accurate and contact you if there are any questions. It will then be sent to management for review and either approved, declined or countered. Based on the response from management, this process can take anywhere from less than 24 hours to several days depending on the factors involved. You’ll receive updates from JRA throughout the process to keep you informed of the status.

You can get a good idea of an artist’s availability by checking the artist’s website and reviewing the tour dates listed there. Keep in mind that personal blocks may not always be reflected, so the best way to confirm availability is to reach out to JRA directly by phone or email.

You can learn a lot about how the booking process works as it relates to managing your event from start to finish in our Promotional Countdown, but here’s a brief breakdown to give you an idea of the initial steps involved:

Step 1: Contact a JRA agent to confirm that the artist you want is available on the date of your proposed event; this is also a good time to discuss the cost and other factors that will be involved with your event and plan your offer.
Step 2: Submit an offer via the JRA Offer Form.
Step 3: The agent will look over your offer and forward it to management, who will approve, decline or counter the offer. This process can take anywhere from 24 hours to several business days.
Step 4: Once your offer has been approved, you will receive a contract via email from our contract administrator that you will need to sign and return along with your deposit to finalize your date.
Step 5: Begin promoting your date!

If you are providing flights as part of your contract agreement, the artist manager may prefer to book the flights for the artist and then ask for reimbursement. On occasion the artist’s manager may request that you book the flights directly, but as a rule, never book travel without speaking to the manager first.

The artist’s manager creates the rider and will be available to answer any questions you may have – his or her contact information will be listed on the first page(s) of the rider.

Backline gear refers to the artist’s personal equipment that cannot easily be flown to a date, such as guitar and bass amps, drum sets, keyboards, and pianos. If the artist is flying to your event, a list of the necessary gear they will need provided will be included in their rider.

Unfortunately, deposits are non-refundable if a date is cancelled. This is largely due to the difficulty of replacing a date once other events have been routed around it, as well as the financial commitments associated with preparing for the event, including travel arrangements. If you have questions about this, please feel welcome to reach out to your JRA representative.

JRA accepts deposits via check, bank wire, or credit card. Please note that a 3.99% processing fee will be added for credit card payments.

A typical deposit is 50% of the contracted guarantee and is due within 2 weeks of receiving the contract or a date range defined between you and your JRA agent.

A “versus gross” deal occurs when the buyer agrees to pay the artist a minimum guarantee and potentially a portion of the gross ticket sales, but only if the gross ticket sales exceed the minimum guarantee amount. One example of this would be: a guarantee of $5,000 vs 60% of the gross. In the event the ticket sale gross is $10,000, you would simply calculate 60% of that, which is $6,000. This means that the artist would receive an additional $1,000 above the guarantee (given $6,000 is greater than the $5,000 minimum guarantee) and the buyer would retain the remaining $4,000 for their expenses. The primary advantage from this arrangement is that the buyer doesn’t need to report any expenses to the manager or track any complicated settlement sheets. It is a very simple and straightforward method for splitting ticket revenue.

A net deal occurs when the artist and buyer agree to split all net proceeds with an artist, usually in addition to the guarantee. The net proceeds are defined as money that is leftover from ticket sales after all agreed upon expenses have been paid.

Unfortunately not. An artist’s commitment is the same whether they perform 15 minutes or 90 minutes due to the amount of time it takes to travel to your event, load in, soundcheck, load out and travel to the next scheduled event.

Pricing varies from artist to artist and event to event. Factors like availability, routing, venue size, and travel considerations all play a role in determining the final cost. Beyond the artist’s fee, the host is typically responsible for providing meals, lodging, and production (sound and lights) for the show. We would be happy to give you a better idea of what to expect for your specific event, so please feel welcome to reach out to one of our agents.

Unfortunately, JRA is not able to accept demos, lyrics or songs in any form due to copyright issues and legal liabilities. If you are an aspiring songwriter, the Gospel Music Association is a great resource for you.

JRA currently partners with artists that are signed to a major record label that offers national distribution and/or a professional management company capable of facilitating that relationship. Because JRA’s booking reach is national, we also require that the artist have national radio airplay and national distribution, which is why the label component is so important. Without these pieces, JRA’s value in a partnership is diminished for an artist, as it truly requires a team approach for everything to work to the artist’s full benefit.

The first thing to do is to review your marketing plan and look for anything you may have missed along the way. If sales are lower than anticipated, contact your JRA agent and let them know of the problem – the agents at JRA have a combined 85 years of experience in working with successful events and can offer valuable advice to help improve sales.

The artist’s manager is your primary contact for setting up interviews and in-store appearances. Their contact information can be found in the artist’s rider included with your contract. As a reminder, please always secure written permission from management before promising the artist’s time to anyone!

Current hi-res photos and biographies can be found in the Artists section of our website. Artwork for posters and flyers along with other media such as videos, prepared radio spots, etc. (when available) may be acquired by contacting artist management directly using the contact information in your rider.

We recommend calling the station and asking to speak with the person in charge of promotions. Share your event details with them and ask how they might be able to support it. Christian radio can be a tremendous asset to your event depending on your market, so this is a relationship worth building early in your planning process.

Meet and greet opportunities are coordinated by the artist’s management team. We recommend reaching out to them directly with your request. You can typically find their contact information on the artist’s official website.

As a booking agency, JRA is not involved in ticket sales or discounted tickets. For these requests, we recommend reaching out to the promoter or venue hosting the event directly, as they would be best equipped to assist you.

Unfortunately, an artist’s schedule is carefully planned in advance to allow time for interviews, soundcheck, and other obligations surrounding each concert date. Their schedules do not typically allow for additional stops along the way, but we appreciate you thinking of them!

We unfortunately are not able to share personal contact information for our artists or pass along personal messages directly. However, we highly encourage you to reach out to the artist’s management contact or check their official website for contact information. Artists truly enjoy reading about how their ministries have reached the lives of others and would love to hear from you.

We do welcome feedback from attendees, churches, and promoters about experiences at our artists’ shows through our contact form.

For questions about song use and publishing, the artist’s label team is the appropriate starting point. They can direct you to the right publishing contact who handles all aspects of licensing and song permissions. You can typically find their contact information on the artist’s official website. Please note that JRA is not able to grant permission for the use of an artist’s work for any reason.