I think modern media can offset that a little. There’s been plenty of people making use of virtual avatars to represent themselves in the past few years and still achieve decent success. Though obviously you’re quite limited in what you can do if you remain anonymous.

I recall a few years ago a singer rather like that, REOL, made her first music video which she herself starred in and it kind of did accelerate her popularity. It’s hard to remain anonymous if you’re also looking to tour and be on stage. As an aside; it’s delightful how her “face debut” song is about how she’s unsure how she wants to do her debut.