well said. well said. you dont exactly need a record company for your music to reach an audience these days, you can do what you like and no one can say 'this wont sell, fuck off,' you can have your own small audience that loves and respects you.

but another argument is that the current 'top' artists are 'on the top' because they have their names. if they published an album with another name, i believe it would be challenged. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stephen King gained significant popularity as a horror writer. However, he wanted to test if his success was solely due to his name or if his writing could stand on its own. To do this, King created the pen name Richard Bachman, and people loved the supposed Richard Bachman books.