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$if($strcmp($left(%artist%,4),The ),$right(%artist%,$sub($len(%artist%),4))', 'The,%artist%)
Use the code above in place of "%artist%" in your albumlist view. Note, though, that album list panel sorts by whatever is displayed, so if you want it to ignore "The" while sorting, then you also have to tolerate that the display will also be "Band, The" instead of "The Band".
edit: fixed code tag