While rock music has seen a recent influx of successful indie artists, the Do-It-Yourself approach is all but nonexistent in the world of mainstream dance music. But Alyson may be changing all that. Establishing her own label, PM Media, and co-writing/producing all her material, the NY native’s proactivity is scorching a path for upstarts to follow.

After moving to L.A. in 2003, Alyson met Daveed and began a writer/producer relationship which has lasted to this day. “He’s a virtuoso and we clicked immediately,” says Alyson. “He had his own studio, so once we started working on an album we finished it pretty quickly.”

Wanting to get her music out as soon as possible, Alyson sidestepped labels altogether. “Rather than spend time trying to figure out how to get my music to labels, why not spend the time figuring out the business and get my music heard on my own?”

Thus began Alyson’s self-education. After reading countless books and doing Internet research, though, the songwriter still hadn’t found the information she sought. With most material focusing on how to get music into the hands of labels, Alyson set out to meet with as many people in the business as she could. “I flew all over the country meeting with promoters, indie labels and distributors, just trying to pick their brains on how everything worked,” she says.

Through this method, the artist stumbled upon what she credits as a vital factor in her success –– record pools. Set up in major U.S. cities, record pools are organizations that club and radio DJs subscribe to. Labels send their new releases to these pools which, in turn, distribute them among their member DJs. Armed with this knowledge, Alyson sent a promotional release, “Baby Come Back,” to various pools around the country. “It was great because I was able to reach thousands of club and mix-show DJs all over the U.S.,” she says. “And DJs have definitely been the main support for promoting my music, since mainstream Top 40 radio just isn’t accessible to independent artists. You have to look to alternative means.”

Spurred on by the song’s well-received airplay, Alyson sent her first official release, “What’re You Gonna Do” to more pools. “Once I released the first single, I worked with a radio promoter to promote the track to mix show radio,” says Alyson. “While there aren’t many dance radio stations left, there still are a good number of mix shows you can try to get on.” Her hard work resulted in the single hitting No. 4 on the Billboard Dance Chart in 2004.

Lacking a distribution deal, Alyson stresses the importance of the Internet to her success during this time. “It’s an essential means of making independent music available for people to buy. Having music on your website is crucial. There’s also Internet radio. And you can open an account on Amazon.com as an independent artist and sell your music there. And of course, websites like CD Baby are great, as well.”

Two more successful singles followed. With them came a national distribution deal through City Hall Records. “The more visibility your music has, the more open a distributor will be to picking you up,” says Alyson. “They’ve been great at getting my music out there.”

With worldwide digital distribution also in place, and plans for a second full-length in 2006, this artist/entrepreneur hints at releasing other artists’ material in the near future. “Hopefully I’ll be in a position to do that soon, which is very exciting.”

Alyson also offers this to aspiring independents, “Talk to whoever you can in the business. You never know who they’ll refer you to. And hold on to the ownership rights of your music as much as possible. If you can afford to put music out yourself, do it. But you must be prepared for all the hard work.”

Alyson’s debut, Take A Good Look, is currently on shelves.

Contact Mona Elyafi, ILDK Media,