Why I Built a Fully Self-Hosted Music Infrastructure
Got the email again — another price hike from Wix.
I’d let them host my website and email from the start. It was the easy button. Just get something online and move on. I told myself I had more important things to focus on: making music, helping people, building something real.
That easy button faded into the background. I didn’t think about it — and it showed. My site sat there, stale and lifeless. No updates, no intention. Just a digital business card collecting dust.
And every year, when that renewal email came, I wondered: Why am I still doing this?
Meanwhile, my email — my direct line to every artist I work with — was tied to Google, a company I’ve never trusted. How did I end up here?
I had two options: keep drifting, or rebuild something that felt like mine.
Within two weeks, I canceled both accounts. Moved my site. Moved my mail.
It felt good to own my data. It felt even better to build it myself. Turns out, it wasn’t just empowering — it was fun.
There are tradeoffs, though.
The same belief that led me to Wix in the first place — that I had more important things to do — was actually stifling my creativity.
Now that I own my site, sure, I’m spending time setting it up. But it’s different. It’s not a distraction — it’s fuel.
I’m thinking about human connection again. About sharing knowledge, not hoarding it. That was my original why, and somewhere along the way, I lost it.
By breaking it all down and building it myself, I didn’t just launch a new website.
I lit a fire.