How to submit to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Contest 2023

The Tiny Desk Contest, NPR Music’s annual search for the best-undiscovered artist, is back for the ninth year. The winner gets to play a Tiny Desk Concert and be part of the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour.

This year’s panel of judges

• Bob Boilen (Tiny Desk series creator and All Songs Considered host)
• Bobby Carter (Tiny Desk series producer)
• Sharon Van Etten, who performed behind the original Tiny Desk in 2010
• Baby Rose, who graced the Desk with her incredible voice in early 2020
• Sudan Archives, the singer and violinist whose sound pulls from R&B, hip-hop, and experimental electronic music
• Albina Cabrera of Seattle station KEXP, a champion of independent musicians and Latin American music

Here’s how to enter

• Record a video of you playing one original song behind a desk.
• Upload your video to YouTube (make sure it’s public)
• Review this checklist to make sure your video follows all the rules (and is eligible to win!)
• Submit your video at npr.org/tinydeskcontest by March 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET
• Watch a Tiny Desk Concert with Henry Hall

Watch 2022 winner Alisa Amador

Submit early

While there’s nothing in the Contest rules that favors early entrants, those that do are often featured by NPR Music in the run-up to the deadline and announcement.

In addition to the winner, multiple entrants will be featured this year on the Contest blog, NPR Music’s social media channels, NPR’s Top Shelf series on YouTube, and the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour.

The contest is open now through March 13, 2023.

Learn more and submit here.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.