SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY - MCCARTNEY + MORISSETTE USE ALIASES TO FOOL PIRATES + THIEVES

SIR PAUL McCARTNEY, FAITH HILL, ALANIS MORISSETTE and DEPECHE MODE are among the huge acts using aliases in a bid to make sure their new albums get to critics at newspapers and magazines.

Music industry bigwigs fear the bigger stars' preview albums are being swiped by interns and pirated weeks before their release dates.

So, McCartney's upcoming album has been credited to PETE MITCHELL, while Hill, Morissette and Depeche Mode are sending out their albums as FERN HOLLOWAY, ARTHUR MOORE and BLACK SWARM respectively, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Publicist MITCH SCHNEIDER, who represents both Morissette and Depeche Mode, says, "It is really a practical thing for protection when there are people walking by desks wanting to take things."

But the publicists admit their alias plan is far from flawless - some critics, who are inundated with albums to review, give unknown artists' albums away or discard them.

Geffen Records publicist JIM MERLIS explains, "You can actually out-clever yourself in these situations."