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.

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.[1] 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.[2]

Concerts

As of November 2016, the series included more than 550 concerts viewed a collective 80 million times on YouTube.[2]

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[2]—to the exclusion of genres like country and hip-hop.[3] However reviewers also say the series' musical focus has broadened in scope over time.[2][4] As of July 2017, rapper T-Pain's appearance on the series is Tiny Desk Concerts' most popular video with 10.7 million times (Anderson Paak's appearance is the second-most viewed, seen 8.4 million times).[2]

Tiny Desk Contest

In December 2014, NPR announced it would host its first contest, inviting bands to submit a video of one of their songs.[5] 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.[5][6][7] Jurors have included Trey Anastasio of Phish,[7] Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and Jess Wolfe of Lucius.[8]

Tiny Desk Contest winners have been Fantastic Negrito (2015),[5] Gaelynn Lea (2016),[6] and Tank and the Bangas (2017).[7]

References

  1. ↑ Burton, Scott (February 2015). "Tiny Desk Concert contest not so tiny". KTOO. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Crockett, Zachary (November 21, 2016). "Tiny Desk: how NPR’s intimate concert series earned a cult following". Vox. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  3. ↑ Moore, Marcus J. (8 April 2016). "How ‘All Songs Considered’s’ Bob Boilen went from Tiny Desk to tastemaker". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  4. ↑ Preezy (February 21, 2017). "11 Times Hip-Hop Connected With NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Series". XXL Magazine.
  5. 1 2 3 Falk, Tyler (February 17, 2015). "‘Soul is just right there’ for the winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk contest". Current. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 Segal, Corinne (March 9, 2016). "'Tiny Desk' winner on why musicians with disabilities are an 'unequal minority'". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 Morris, Melinda (February 28, 2017). "Tank and the Bangas beat out 6,000 to win NPR's Tiny Desk Contest". Times-Picayune. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Riemenschneider, Chris (March 3, 2016). "Duluth singer/fiddler Gaelynn Lea wins NPR's Tiny Desk Contest". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
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