The Incredible Mr. Snippet

'The time has come,' the Zakster said,
'To talk of many things:
Of songs -- and online retailers --
Of music clips -- and things.'

Some of you who have had my songs on your respective MySpace or Facebook or iLike pages may be noticing something about now: they're gone! Aaarrrrggghhhh! They've fallen off the face of the Earth! Shall we all panic?

No, let's not. Take a deep breath. First, you can still listen to all the songs from the Zak Claxton album on many places online (just search for me and I'll be there), but instead of the complete songs of the rough mixes that we made available to everyone earlier, you now can hear the actual final, mastered mixes from the album. That's the good news; the bad news is that you only get 30-second snippets of each song.

Before you hang me in effigy, or make dolls of me through which you can poke pins and whatnot, hear me out. I actually have reasons for the things I do from time to time, and I'm happy to say that this is one of those times.

1. Time for the rough mixes to go away.
I've enjoyed having so many friends/fans/frans be able to listen to my album as it's been being created. It's been terrific. At the same time, I like to present the very best of my music, and those rough mixes were, by definition, rough. Between creating those mixes and the final versions we received on Monday, we did some significant detail work that merits being heard. Also, many of the rough mixes were mid-quality (128kbps) MP3 files. You deserve better, my frans. You really do.

2. We're gonna be, uh, selling the music.
While none of the rough mixes have been free to download, all of them have been readily available for listening whenever you were near a computer. While some artists and bands are able to give away their music, we're not in that luxurious position. So, very soon, the album and all of its songs will be for sale. You'll be able to order the CD directly from me, or if you prefer, you'll be able to purchase the songs from places like iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, and Amazon MP3. Like most songs, mine are only $0.99. I'm confident that if you like a few of the tunes, they're worth a buck each.

So, point being, we can't have the songs be for sale, and basically give them away at the same time. I don't have a business degree or anything, but that seems to make sense to me.

3. But dude, the songs aren't for sale just yet!
Ah-ha! You have uncovered the problem. It'll take somewhere between 1-2 months before the album is available for sale everywhere. So, what... in the meantime, no one gets to hear my full songs? Poppycock, I say! In the next few days, we're putting together a special stream-only area of the zakclaxton.com site, where you'll still be able to hear complete streams of the tracks. This will be available by the beginning of next week.

After the album is available for sale, we'll continue to have a few tracks that will be listenable in entirety on the Zak Site. So, no need to worry.

4. Anywhere else we can hear Zak Music when we want to, for the time being?
Yes indeed. You can visit Indie Spectrum Radio and click the "requests" button, and then get to my songs at the "Playlist & Requests" area (listed under "Z"). To make this process a little easier, here's a direct link to the request page where you'll find me. Then choose a Zak Song and just listen up at Indie Spectrum, and my song will probably be on in a few minutes. They're good like that. By the way, you can also find Indie Spectrum Radio in iTunes Radio. Just look for them.

So, that's the deal. As usual, I'll update you when we hit some of the upcoming milestones, like the new site being ready or when you can pre-order the album and so forth. Feel free to send comments, love letters, bomb threats, or anything else that makes you happy.