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Josh Doyle performing on drums, the small progress of daily practice built into a real skill

Small Progress Still Compounds (Even When It Doesn’t Feel Like It)

September 3, 2026 by 3theorymusic
Gear Guide, Sync Licensing

For ten summers, I had 25 minutes a day for 20 days to turn a total beginner into a drummer who could perform in front of the whole school. It’s proof that small progress adds up to something real.

I want to share something that I think will help us all feel a little better about small progress, even when it’s inconsistent.

10 Years of Proof

I taught private drum lessons for 20 years (between tours and studio work). For the last 10 of those, I taught a 5-week summer program at a school in Los Angeles, CA. I would have between 8-10 students, one-on-one for 25 minutes each day. That’s it. 25 minutes each day to teach a kid how to play drums. A few kids came in with some experience, but most had never played and just wanted to try it for the summer.

The big challenge was that the school always had a performance week at the end. So really I only had 4 weeks to teach them because week 5 was the big show.

I did this for 10 years, and every single time I thought it was impossible. There was no way I was going to be able to teach these kids how to go from zero to performing a whole song (playing along to a recording) in front of the school and the parents. And every year I was proven wrong. Every kid was able to do it. I can’t think of any exception. These were 2nd grade to 8th grade kids.

They were able to learn to do something incredible with only 25 minutes of focused teaching each day (honestly more like 20 minutes by the time they found their binder, drumsticks and told me why their pages were wet).

Why Small Progress Compounds

If you’ve read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, then you know the power of 1% improvements. A 1% daily improvement over 180 days is nearly 6 times better if you compound the results, or 180% better if you just add up all the 1 percents. Either way, it’s a big win.

I don’t really know what being 180% better means for music, math or writing exactly, but it definitely makes me feel better about days that are not as productive as others. Some days a I’m only productive for 10 minutes because… well, life finds a way. But 10 minutes every day for a year is over 3600 minutes or 60 hours of improvement.

Small progress still compounds.

Disco Logo

Our Favorite Sync Licensing Tool for 2026: DISCO.ac

February 9, 2026 by 3theorymusic
Gear Guide, Sync Licensing

Our Favorite Sync Licensing Tool for 2026

Our Search for THE ONE

One question we frequently get asked is about what tools we use to manage our songs and keep our pitching organized. I will say, we researched and tried out a LOT of services; well over 15 different companies all aiming to be the solution for independent labels, licensing agents, music supervisors and independent artists looking to pitch their own music. A lot of the known players like Synchtank, Soundgizmo, and SourceAudio are out of budget for most start-ups or solo operations. Furthermore, the design and user experience for most are bulky and not something I was proud to send to clients.

Warning: I’m about to sound like a fanboy but I’m not an employee nor was I compensated by Disco to write this. However, after literally years of searching and easily spending over a 100 hours testing options, it’s understandable that I’d want to gush a bit when I finally find “the one.”



Do You Disco?

When I was first introduced to Disco, a music catalog manager and pitching app, I couldn’t believe that one company had finally hit all the notes I was looking for. Disco was designed from the ground up by music supervisors for music supervisors. It was initially used as an internal tool for their team to pitch music, keep track of those pitches, organize playlists, manage metadata, and collaborate with other members of their group. They soon saw the hole in the market for an easy to use catalog manager that didn’t forget about aesthetics! And so, Disco was offered to the public.



What’s Love Got to Do With It

One of the big missing features in other services was an elegant way to pitch your playlists. Soundcloud had a nice looking player but you couldn’t easily share hi-res WAV, AIF and MP3 files with it. Box, Dropbox and the rest are okay but quickly auditioning songs is not easy and you can’t check the lyrics while listening to a song.



Enter DISCO.ac

With Disco you can customize each of the playlists you send out with background images and custom logos/artwork. All of the playlists allow the end user to download MP3’s, WAV/AIF or both! Within the same one-page playlist they can also view lyrics without interrupting the music player and you can add custom notes (ie – “this artist is on tour with John Mayer” or “this is a cover song but we’ve cleared it easily in the past”).

All of the playlists you send out can be assigned unique URL’s that are linked to the emails of the person you’re sending them too (or you can send them directly using Disco’s internal email form). All of which can be tracked and instantly reported with Disco’s analytics. You can see immediately when someone has opened your playlist, streamed or downloaded a song or downloaded the entire playlist!

One of the coolest features is that you can upload just one hi-res file and Disco will automatically create a MP3 version. No more managing separate MP3 and hi-res files!

Take It to the Outro

I could go on and on about my favorite features (not to mention the fact they they are remarkably better priced that any of the other options out there), but if you’re interested I would highly suggest you contact the fine folks at Disco and set up a one-on-one walk-through. When I did my Zoom call with them, they made specific suggestions on how to organize my catalog for the specific work we do at 3 Theory Music and it literally eliminated 2 spreadsheets I was using to keep track of where my music was going and where it had been. Give Disco a try and let me know what you think! Find us on Instagram –> @3TheoryMusic.


*If you found any value from this, we’d appreciate you using our referral affiliate link. You’ll get $20 credit on your Disco subscription:
Disco Sign-Up Link.


NEFF and the Court: Keeps Showing Up on Screen

November 6, 2025 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

NEFF and the Court has been quietly racking up some loud placements.

Their single “Born Ready” landed in the movie trailer for The Senior, the true-story film starring Michael Chiklis and Mary Stuart Masterson. That track has the kind of cinematic, swaggering energy that makes you want to root for the underdog, so it fits a sports drama perfectly.

You can also hear the group on Disney+. On the premiere episode of Disney’s remake of Turner and Hooch, NEFF and the Court’s soulful ballad “I’ll Be Your Man” plays—channeling the spirit of classic Ray Charles and Etta James slow-burn love songs, but with a modern polish.

And if that weren’t enough, their debut single “Best Is Yet to Come” was featured in a 2021 Nintendo ad campaign, showing how easily their sound moves between film, TV, and brand work.

Part of what makes NEFF and the Court work is the way the project is built. It’s a collaborative outfit on the 3 Theory Records roster, operating a bit like Vulfpeck—rotating in powerhouse vocalists like Phinisey, Katrina Parker, and Aijia to serve the song. No matter who’s on the mic, you get the same DNA: a love for Motown and Stax Records, tight grooves, and vintage-soul songwriting dressed up for now.

In other words: NEFF and the Court makes music that feels familiar the first time you hear it—and that’s why music supervisors keep calling.

Nintendo Switch Logo

Nintendo Switch ad featuring Neff and the Court debut single

February 22, 2021 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

Catch Neff and the Court’s debut single “Best is Yet to Come (feat. Phinisey)” on the new Nintendo Switch ad campaign airing in the North America through 2021.

Check out Neff and the Court’s artist profile here or on Spotify and Youtube.

Brittany Pfantz single featured as theme for DAZN’s ‘The Making Of’

August 14, 2019 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

Sports streamer DAZN will explore the career-defining matches of football greats in its first global original.

Landmark interview series The Making Of (9 x 25 minutes) will feature matches chosen by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and football manager José Mourinho.

DAZN will release The Making Of in all of its nine markets for the first time, forming part of an evolving content strategy that combines premium on-demand sports with original programming.

The series finds such figures re-telling meaningful matches and the impact they had on their careers and lives.

In addition, other players such as John O’Shea, Rafael Alcántara, Fernando Santos, Roberto Carlos and Julio Cesar who were also on the pitch share their insights about the game, in addition to journalists covering the matches and fans.

The series will see Ronaldo relive his appearance for Sporting Lisbon against Manchester United in 2003; Mourinho’s Champions League victory over Manchester United with Porto in 2004; and Neymar Jr.’s performance for Santos against Flamengo in 2011.

The DAZN Originals production is made in association with UK prodco Archer’s Mark. Executive producers include Grant Best, SVP of original programming and content development for DAZN, and Toby Burnett, executive creative director for DAZN Creative.

The series is directed by Dan Riley and produced by Ian Henderson.

DAZN’s previous series include MotoGP doc series In Our Blood; the documentary Being Mario Götze; three-part doc series Canelo vs. Rocky; and boxing doc series 40 Days.

The Making Of launches on 9 August.

Check out Brittany Pfantz on Spotify and Youtube.

Deadliest Catch

“Push Pull” featured on Deadliest Catch

August 5, 2018 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

“Push Pull” On Dealiest Catch, season 14! Listen for Brittany Pfantz’s single “Push Pull” at the end of Deadliest Catch (Season 14/Episode 15). They played almost 2 full minutes of the song and we’ve gotten a lot of love on our socials from DC fans telling us how much they loved the song. Yayyy! Thank you Deadliest Catch team!!

Check out Brittany Pfantz on Spotify and Youtube.

 

 

The Upsided has “That New Thing” for new AT&T campaign!

May 16, 2018 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

The Upsided‘s single “That New Thing” will be part of AT&T’s new ad campaign, “More For Your Thing” airing in Summer of 2018.

The Crossing on ABC

Scratching the Surface of ABC’s “The Crossing”

May 16, 2018 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

The Crossing (ABC)

Disable Danger’s single “Scratching the Surface” will be featured on ABC’s The Crossing airing on May 14, 2018.

Showtime’s “I’m Dying Up Here” has some “Push Pull” from Brittany Pfantz

March 23, 2018 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

Listen for Brittany Pfantz’s song “Push Pull” in Showtime’s “I’m Dying Up Here” season 2 trailer: https://youtu.be/BV9lZscJAOc

The series takes place in the stand up comedy scene in Los Angeles in the 1970’s, following both aspiring and established comics who inhabit Goldie’s, the hottest comedy club in town. The series stars stars Academy Award winner Leo, Ari Graynor, Michael Angarano, Clark Duke, Andrew Santino, Erik Griffin, RJ Cyler, Al Madrigal, and Jake Lacy.

The series was created and executive produced by Dave Flebotte and executive produced by Jim Carrey, Michael Aguilar and Christina Wayne. Cindy Chupack, Adam Davidson and Endemol Shine Studios serve as executive producers on Season 2. It is produced by Showtime and based on the non-fiction book of the same name by William Knoedelseder.

Check out the full song on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7zvf5nldECyOyg0ErmV7UT?si=b7Ea941iTF60QttWyslwYw

 

Disable Danger featured on MTV’s “Teen Mom”

January 20, 2018 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

Disable Danger’s single “Can’t Tame the Wild” will be featured on MTV’s Teen Mom airing on Jan 22, 2018. This will be the 3rd song from the 3 Theory Music catalog to be in Season 7 of Teen Mom.

Base Model Empire in New Amazon Studio’s movie

January 15, 2018 by 3theorymusic
Fresh News, Sync Licensing

Amazon Studio’s Gringo soundtrack will include 3 Theory Record’s artist Base Model Empire, featuring their single “Balloons.” Gringo is due to be released March 2018. Check out the trailer here.

Gringo, a dark comedy mixed with white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, explores the battle of survival for businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) when he finds himself crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal.

Gringo is directed by Nash Edgerton and written by Anthony Tambakis and Matthew Stone. The film stars David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton and Sharlto Copley. The film is scheduled to be released on March 9, 2018, by Amazon Studios and STXinternational.

Recent Posts

  • Small Progress Still Compounds (Even When It Doesn’t Feel Like It)
  • Our Favorite Sync Licensing Tool for 2026: DISCO.ac
  • NEFF and the Court: Keeps Showing Up on Screen
  • GIK Acoustics: It’s Not You, It’s Your Room
  • Singer-Songwriter KRAMIES announces new EP with help from the rosters of Black Keys, Grandaddy, Band of Horses and Train.

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