Everett. I've noticed the same thing - and I think it's good. If there are PC posses out there for particular artists this eliminates targeting the front runners for negative voting. The quarterfinal stage is the most vunerable in my opinion for gaming the system.
And Brian, why would OurStage ever deny someone voting privileges if they identified themselves as a fan of an anonymous artist in that genre? It seems the whole point of these competitions is for artists to draw their fans to the website to expose them to the advertising - oh yeah and the music too. I really don't think individuals would fear that their votes won't be counted because they're fans of a particular artist. And after all, only a low percentage of the battles they would judge would directly involve their favored artist. I think most fans understand this and that fear - if any - would only affect those who don't understand and are perhaps a tad paranoid. I think the benefits outweigh the possible risks.

http://www.soundclick.com/Summeoyo
http://www.ourstage.com/profile/summeoyo1