Marc I agree with you however my comments about Taylor Swift could be transferred to just about anybody famous. I just used her as an example to illustrate my point. I still would bet that any big star trying to submit anything under an assumed name would be knocked back. That is the point I was making. I do not rate miss S personally but that is just my opinion. I concede that lots of people do rate her. It is obvious that the business operates on a "who you know network" Your own statements and general comments about networking, team building and the industry in general would suggest that I am right.
As for fooling all the people all the time well a certain Mr Simon Cowell does a pretty good job of that.
Just because someone sells shed loads of recordings does not necessarily mean they are any good. It just means they have a team of good con artists behind them. I am not interested in how much money or how popular people are....too long in the tooth for that...I am only interested in their talent and the quality of their music. There are far too many people in this industry who are punching way above their weight and too many who do not get the credit they deserve.
It often puzzles me that the paying public will listen to and buy any old crap if they are told to. The buying public are generally pretty gullible. I am sure that people who work in advertising have taken that principle to heart and to new levels.
It also puzzles me why people protect these talentless individuals. Why cannot folk be honest and admit that certain folk have very little talent when it should be obvious to everyone that they have been put there under false pretences.
I tend rock the boat.... to call it like it is rather than defending the system just to keep everyone happy. The industry can be pretty corrupt and will always be so.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=5238055