Calling all North Bay musicians, NPR’s massively popular Tiny Desk Contest is on for 2018. Now in its fourth year, the nationwide contest for unsigned bands and artists is an opportunity like no other. Simply make a video of yourself performing an original tune while sitting at a desk in the style of NPR’s longrunning Tiny Desk Concert series, upload it to YouTube and submit it as an entry. Winners will have the chance to tour the country, and this year, the tour stops in Sonoma County for the first time with a performance at Lagunitas Tap Room in Petaluma.
Now, maybe it’s just me, a humble North Bay native; but how cool would it be for a local band to be on that stage when NPR comes to town? Tiny Desk contest winners in past years have gone on to perform for sold-out crowds around the world, and Oakland’s Fantastic Negrito even picked up a Grammy Award after winning the contest in 2015.
If you don’t win the grand prize, submitting artists have still been featured on NPR Music’s All Songs Considered blog as well as Tiny Desk supercut videos and the like. If you’re a band that has submitted in past years, you can do it again, just pick a new song. Also, creativity is encouraged, so the concept of a “desk” to perform at can be stretched in any number of ways.
Unsigned bands and musicians can submit videos now through Sunday, March 25 at 11:59 p.m. ET at NPR.org/tinydeskcontest. Please see website for official rules.
.NPR Tiny Desk Contest Coming to Sonoma County
