© 2025 SDPB Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
News

South Dakota Musicians Encouraged to Enter NPR Tiny Desk Concert Contest 2020

SD musicians are encouraged to enter NPR's Tiny Desk Concert Contest.

2020 NPR TINY DESK CONCERT CONTEST

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MONDAY, APRIL 27, 10:59pm CT/9:59pm MT

NPR is still accepting "Tiny Desk Concerts" for their 2020 Contest. Out of necessity, some of us are sharing and braving more than we did before. Consider singing and recording that solo...record your family's sing-a-long to an original, made-up song....or, bring your band together viaZOOM Videoconferencing or FaceTime.

SDPB and NPR are asking unsigned bands and musicians to submit their entries at NPR.org/tinydeskcontest,

Over the past five years, nearly 30,000 musicians, including those from South Dakota, have submitted videos to NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in the hopes of being chosen to perform as part of NPR Music's signature music discovery series.

To enter NPR Music's 2020 Tiny Desk Contest, unsigned musicians must play one original song at a desk (any desk — free range to be creative here!), upload a video of the performance to YouTube and submit with a completed entry form at NPR.org/tinydeskcontest. NPR Music welcomes music from all genres and entrants from previous years with new material. Artists must be at least 18 years old and live in the 50 United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands or the District of Columbia to enter.

If you win, you'll play a Tiny Desk concert and then go on tour across the U.S. with NPR Music. And even though NPR only chooses one winner, we feature artists from the Contest community in plenty of other ways: on our blog, in a Contest supercut video, on NPR's newsmagazines and at the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour stops.

Locally, South Dakota musicians who enter may be featured on SDPB Radio's live music segment "Moment in Sound” on In the Moment with Lori Walsh, as well as on SDPB.org and SDPB social media, and in SDPB Magazine.

Check out South Dakota's 2020 entries so far here!

NPR has issued an updated Q&A in light of COVID-19:

  1. When is the new deadline?
    NPR will be accepting entries to the 2020 Tiny Desk Contest until April 27, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
  2. I submitted an entry when the old deadline was in place. Now that I have more time, can I re-submit?
    According to our official rules, we can only accept one entry per artist. So if you’ve already submitted a video to the 2020 Tiny Desk Contest, you cannot submit another one.
  3. I’m not able to get together with my band before April 27. Will I be able to submit an entry once local and federal restrictions are relaxed and we can all be in the same place?
    Unfortunately, we won’t be able to accept entries after the April 27 deadline. We know that means some artists won’t be able to get together with their bands or videographers before the deadline, and we understand that can be frustrating!

    We encourage you to think creatively about your entry from the comfort of your home (or wherever it is you’re socially distancing) -- and to remember that, first and foremost, this contest is about your song, not the quality of your video or audio. And, above all, the most important thing to us is the health and safety of the Tiny Desk Contest community.

  4. Will the Tiny Desk Contest winner still perform a Tiny Desk concert? What about the tour?
    We still plan to invite this year’s Contest winner to perform a Tiny Desk concert at NPR HQ. The Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour will not occur in May and June, as we originally planned; we’ll plan to keep the community updated in the Contest newsletter and on NPR Music’s social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as we know more.
  5. If the members of my band are all in different places, can we record ourselves individually and splice the videos together into one entry?
    Your entry video doesn’t need to be 100% live to be considered eligible. And if you decide to record parts separately and splice multiple videos together, your entry will be considered eligible as long as you follow all the other rules.
  6. I have a different question!
    We’re happy to help. Check out our FAQs, or contact us via the NPR Help Desk or at [email protected].

Tags