Most people now know Ari Herstand as the guy who helped them fly with their instruments. His Carry Your Instrument On The Plane… It’s The LAW blog post went viral and has been viewed over 300,000 time with over 40,000 Facebook Likes. In just under two years, Herstand’s music business advice blog, Ari’s Take, has been nominated by the LA Weekly as the best music blog in Los Angeles and has become a go to resource for DIY musicians.

Ari Herstand is a DIY musician who has played over 600 shows around the country, has opened for or toured with Ben Folds, Cake, Matt Nathanson, The Milk Carton Kids and Ron Pope, and has had his music featured in countless TV shows.

Herstand has written for many of the top musician trade magazines and websites including Music Connection Magazine, Digital Music News, American Songwriter, Playback Magazine, CD Baby, Tunecore, ReverbNation, Discmakers, ASCAP, Hypebot and others.

As an actor, he has co-starred in TV shows including 2 Broke Girls, The Fosters, Sam & Cat and Touch.

Before acting and blogging, Herstand spent a full year working on his newest release, Brave Enough, in his former home of Minnesota. Teaming up with his long-time engineer and close friend, (Grammy nominated) Paul Marino, the two organized an all-star band, including Herstand’s “favorite drummer on the planet” Dave King (The Bad Plus), to create his 3rd full-length record.


Herstand is best know for his live looping: combining the trumpet, beat boxing, keys, acoustic guitar, percussion and vocals to create a full, sonic live experience.

He recently joined the Digital Music News team as a staff writer. Herstand brings the musician’s perspective to most current topics.

Brave Enough is out digitally everywhere streamed or sold. The vinyl and CD can be purchased on ariherstand.com

Cheryl B. Engelhardt is a composer and singer/songwriter with dozens of film scores, national commercial jingles including Honey Nut Cheerios, Lysol, and Lowes, and song placements on shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" under her belt. She produced and released four piano-pop records, with songs from each winning her accolades in Keyboard Magazine, Billboard and Music Connection. In 2011, she founded CBE Music, a music creation and branding company that provides original music and branding strategy to small businesses, brands, films and web content providers with a client roster that includes CollegeHumor.com, Vimeo, and Starbucks.

Cheryl has toured throughout Europe and the United States with her band supporting her records (a la Sara Bareilles, Alanis, Lourde). She has over 40 TV and commercial placements of her 50+ songs and is currently seeking her next partner in publishing. Cheryl is working on a solo-piano record, showcasing her first loves: piano and arrangements (both vocal and orchestral).

In 2013, after losing her musical influence (her father), Cheryl took a close look at her motivation in following a musical career path. She discovered strong purpose in providing a space for self-expression through partnership, which has led her to work on releasing her fourth record, "Inevitably", a collaboration project where most of the performances are duets. This newfound purpose also led Cheryl to enthusiastically support other musicians in crafting their ideal careers through workshops and courses on her website In The Key Of Success, the most popular being her 6-week course { MX4 } (The Marketing & Branding, Money-making, Mentorship Mastermind). She has spoken at SXSW, the ASCAP Expo, the Millennium Music Conference and many colleges including her alma mater, Cornell University. 

After graduating from Cornell, she studied orchestration at the Juilliard School of music and currently lives in New York with her mountain-guide husband.