diff --git a/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/Config.in b/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/Config.in
index 5d82533..70d664d 100644
--- a/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/Config.in
+++ b/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/Config.in
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_GST_PLUGINS_BASE_PLUGIN_VOLUME
 
 comment "plugins with external dependencies (there may be more available)"
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_GST_PLUGINS_BASE_PLUGIN_ALSA
+	bool "alsa (mandatory for audio playback)"
+        select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB
+        select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_MIXER
+        select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_PCM
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_GST_PLUGINS_BASE_PLUGIN_OGG
 	bool "ogg (*.ogg audio/video)"
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBOGG
diff --git a/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/gst-plugins-base.mk b/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/gst-plugins-base.mk
index b044516..02e7ca4 100644
--- a/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/gst-plugins-base.mk
+++ b/package/multimedia/gst-plugins-base/gst-plugins-base.mk
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ORC),y)
 GST_PLUGINS_BASE_DEPENDENCIES += orc
 endif
 
-# alsa support needs pcm+mixer support, but configure fails to check for it
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB)$(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_MIXER)$(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_PCM),yyy)
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_GST_PLUGINS_BASE_PLUGIN_ALSA),y)
 GST_PLUGINS_BASE_DEPENDENCIES += alsa-lib
 else
 GST_PLUGINS_BASE_CONF_OPT += --disable-alsa