How NPR's Tiny Desk became one of our favourite places on the internet

For almost 20 years, NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts have featured some of the biggest artists and promising upcoming musical talents.

Everyone from Adele, to Usher and even Blue Man Group have fit themselves into the internet's most beloved cluttered office space in order to give fans an acoustic set like no other.

In a conversation recorded live in front of an audience at this year's Radiodays North America conference, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud talks with series producer Bobby Carter about the journey of Tiny Desk, and the role he played in making the series a crucial and trusted hub for Black and other racialized musicians.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: I think about that time period and about the similar spaces to Tiny Desk. MTV had Unplugged. Right here in Canada, MuchMusic had Intimate and Interactive. When you think about Tiny Desk, what do you think makes Tiny Desk a different space?

Bobby: First of all, the intimacy. I think that's key. And now over the years, the thing is we have a fingerprint, right? When you see a Tiny Desk, you know exactly what it is because of those shelves, because it's in a regular office. Many artists come into the space thinking that's a soundstage. It is not, and it's the first thing we tell artists. Like, "Look. This is exactly what this is. This is a regular-ass desk in a regular-ass office. There's no great acoustics…. So be prepared."

But it's the intimacy. We strip away all of the bells and whistles. As much as I love Unplugged, we don't even give you that. Like, the monitors in front of the stage where the artists can hear themselves? We don't give you that. You either got it, or you don't. And I think that's one of the things that really separates us from a lot of the music platforms.

Elamin: Okay, so Tiny Desk starts in 2008. You join the team in 2014. If I'm not mistaken, the very first Tiny Desk concert you produced was this one right here:

Bobby: That's my guy Phonte. This is a duo called The Foreign Exchange. Actually, one of the very first groups to put together an album over the internet before meeting each other. This was in 2014. This wasn't the first band that I pitched. This is the first band that got approved.

Elamin: How long did it take between the first artist you pitched?

Bobby: I have no clue, but it was a long road to get there because, you know, it's NPR. And NPR has thankfully evolved in a lot of different ways. They changed a lot of their perspectives and views on what belongs at NPR. But we weren't quite there yet, right? But this really sort of proved that the stuff that I love not only belonged, but there are millions of others out there that love it as well.

Elamin: So that journey happens kind of quickly because you get to Foreign Exchange, and then … T-Pain. What ends up happening is this takes off in ways that I imagine maybe surprised some of the people on the team. Do you want to talk about how big of a viral moment this was?

Bobby: It was the first real moment. It truly put Tiny Desk on the map. I always say, if you ask me what Tiny Desk is, I point them to this, because it's T-Pain. If you know T-Pain, you know when you listen to his music, his voice is altered through Auto-Tune. 

Elamin: The most Auto-Tuned singer of the early aughts, yeah. 

Bobby: He helped to pioneer Auto-Tune — not necessarily the first one to use it, but he was the first one to use the way he used it, and it changed the music industry. And what my colleague, Frannie, challenged him to do was to come in and perform without Auto-Tune. And when you take that away, there was this discovery that this dude does not need Auto-Tune. He can really sing. 

Elamin: A generational talent when it comes to singing, yeah. 

Bobby: He utilized it as a tool, and it was his identity. But in that, he sang, and it was completely stripped. Not even drums; it was keys and that voice. It was an eye-opening moment for the music industry, NPR, culture at large. It changed the game for us.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Bobby Carter produced by Ty Callender.