Did you find your recent holiday season sound-tracked by Hyundai this year? Yes, Hyundai. The car commercial employed California indie duo and YouTube sensation Pomplamoose to put a fresh take on classic Christmas songs like “Deck the Halls” and “Jingle Bells” in a series of holiday commercials.

But before they were singing carols in their garage for a car company commercial, Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn, the members of Pomplamoose, had already managed to make a living off of iTunes sales and an ad-revenue sharing program on YouTube without ever issuing any physical product and rarely playing live shows. Known mainly for their covers of pop hits like Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and Lady Gaga’s “Telephone,” they managed to sell over 100,000 songs in 2009, well before Dawn’s deer-in-headlights stare became a staple on TV commercials around America.

Pomplamoose represents yet another way the music industry is shifting from major labels providing artists with large sums of money to artists who can make a living with a DIY approach to music. That said, there are still many contracts that need to be in place to guarantee Pomplamoose gets the money they are owed, from their deal with Hyundai to the licenses they must buy to secure the rights to cover other artists songs.