''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by
NPR Music
NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson left
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
frustrated that they couldn't hear the music over the crowd noise. Thompson joked that the musician, folk singer
Laura Gibson
Laura Anne Gibson (born August 9, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter. She currently records for the U.S. independent label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's most recent album ''Goners'' was released October 26, 20 ...
, 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.
The series has previously drawn criticism for narrowness in the musical genres it includes—described as focused on " hipster-infused
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
" by Zachary Crockett at ''Vox''—to the exclusion of genres like
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
and
hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
. However, the series' musical focus has broadened in scope over time.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, NPR Music enlisted artists to instead record their own virtual performances under the re-branded title ''Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts''. The 2022 Tiny Desk Concert winner, Alisa Amador, was the first performance back at the desk with an audience since the pandemic started.
, the series included more than 550 concerts viewed a collective 80 million times on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
South Korea–based TV agency Something Special worked alongside both NPR and LG U+ to launch ''Tiny Desk Korea'', which served as the first time ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' was adapted as a TV show outside North America, with up to 52 episodes aired weekly. The TV show was premiered on LG U+ platforms in August 2023. In March 2024, a similar licensing agreement was struck with
NHK
, also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee.
NHK ope ...
to launch ''Tiny Desk Concerts Japan'' with Fujii Kaze as the first performer in the series. The show premiered on
NHK General TV
, abbreviated on-screen as NHK G, is the main television service of NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of its co ...
in Japan on March 16, 2024, subsequently premiering on its global sister channel
NHK World-Japan
NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-service broadcasters, ...
on March 29. The series became a regularly scheduled program on September 30, starting with B'z vocalist
Koshi Inaba
is a Japanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career, with six studio albums and ...
.
''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
Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 ...
of
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...
,
Dan Auerbach
Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...
Lucius
Lucius is a masculine given name derived from Lucius (Latin ; ), abbreviated L., one of the small group of common Latin forenames () found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius probably derives from Latin word ( gen. ), meaning "light" (<.
Tiny Desk Contest winners have included:
* Fantastic Negrito (2015)
* Gaelynn Lea (2016)
* Tank and the Bangas (2017)
* Naia Izumi (2018)
* Quinn Christopherson (2019)
* Linda Diaz (2020)
* Neffy (2021)
* Alisa Amador (2022)
* Little Moon (2023)
* The Philharmonik (2024)
* Ruby Ibarra (2025)
''Tiny Desk Radio''
On April 17, 2025, NPR launched ''Tiny Desk Radio'', a weekly hour-long show on most of its member stations hosted by Bobby Carter and Anamaria Sayre. The show itself features greatest Tiny Desk performances and stories of artists asked to reimagine their music.Tiny Desk Radio launches on public radio stations across America -
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
(published April 17, 2025; retrieved May 21, 2025)