Tiny Desk Concerts


Tiny Desk Concerts is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C.

History

The first Tiny Desk Concert came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson left a bar show frustrated that they couldn't hear the music over the crowd noise. Thompson joked that the musician, folk singer Laura Gibson, should just perform at Boilen's desk. A month later Boilen arranged for her to do just that, making an impromptu recording and posting it online. The name is taken from Boilen's 1970s psychedelic dance band called Tiny Desk Unit.

Concerts

As of August 2018, the series included more than 800 concerts viewed a collective 2 billion times on YouTube.
The series has sometimes drawn criticism for narrowness in the musical genres it includes—described as focused on "hipster-infused indie rock" by Zachary Crockett at Vox—to the exclusion of genres like country and hip-hop. However reviewers also say the series' musical focus has broadened in scope over time. Performer Anderson Paak's appearance on the series is Tiny Desk Concerts' most popular video with 51 million views, surpassing the previous number 1 viewed video of T-Pain, seen 14.96 million times.. Popular entries include Mac Miller's set, viewed more than 34.8 million times as of April 2020.

List of concerts

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Tiny Desk Contest

In December 2014, NPR announced it would host its first contest, inviting musicians to submit a video of one of their songs. A jury of musicians and NPR staff choose a winner to play a Tiny Desk Concert. The contest has continued annually, each year drawing more than 6000 submissions. Jurors have included Trey Anastasio of Phish, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and Jess Wolfe of Lucius.
Tiny Desk Contest winners have been Fantastic Negrito, Gaelynn Lea, Tank and the Bangas, Naia Izumi, and Quinn Christopherson.