NPR opens Tiny Desk Concert and Tour contest to find undiscovered musical talent

by | Dec 22, 2015 | MUSIC

Fresh off of reddit, NPR is putting out a call for fresh talent to film as part of their Tiny Desk series, as well as go on tour for a touri

Fresh off of reddit, NPR is putting out a call for fresh talent to film as part of their Tiny Desk series, as well as go on tour for a touring version of the program.

Richmond’s own No BS! Brass Band has found themselves at the tiny desk back in 2013, and lord knows they’re doing just fine now.

So NPR and their Tiny Desk appear to be hitting the road and they went to r/hiphopheads to help spread the news of the interest in new performers. Check out details below, follow directions and maybe you’ll be on tour with NPR. (Make sure to send us the videos too, while you’re at it)

Via Reddit:

NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series has hosted almost 500 concerts in our office. We’ve had acts like The Internet, Shakey Graves, John Legend, Adele, and, of course, T-Pain without Auto-Tune. We hosted the first Tiny Desk Contest last year to find an undiscovered artist to join the series, and we were overwhelmed with all the amazing undiscovered talent we saw (a lot of which came from reddit!).

We’re doing it again, and I thought I’d see if anyone here (emcees or otherwise) was interested in entering. Following the concert, the winner will go on a U.S. tour with NPR Music and Lagunitas. You can enter anytime between January 12th and February 2nd, 2016, and we want entries from all genres!

Here’s how you enter:

Create a new video of you/your band playing one song you’ve written.
Perform it at a desk (of any size, shape or type!)
Upload it to YouTube and fill out the entry form at npr.org/tinydeskcontest when it opens on Jan. 12, 2016 and before it closes on Feb. 2, 2016!

There are just a few requirements:

Since this is about undiscovered talent, you can’t have a current recording contract
You must be at least 21 years old and a U.S. resident.

Official Rules here

This contest is about bringing together the community of all the overlooked and budding artists in this country, and we’d love for you all to join us!

If you have any questions, you can comment here or email us. Don’t post your videos here though — if you submit them through the site, we’ll watch them all. Thanks so much, and happy music-making!

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner is the former editor of GayRVA and RVAMag from 2013 - 2017. He’s now the Richmond Bureau Chief for Radio IQ, a state-wide NPR outlet based in Roanoke. You can reach him at BradKutnerNPR@gmail.com




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