CZEN

A catalogue of 461 music films: documentaries, concert hybrids and the best concert films – and where to watch them.

Where to watch

There is no single place that has everything – music rights are fragmented. The closest you can get is a combination of one specialised service, one free service and a rental store for individual titles.

How to put it together

Recommended setup for documentaries: DAFilms (auteur and European documentaries) + ARTE.tv and iVysílání (free) + medici.tv if you're into classical or jazz. Most well-known titles can be rented one by one on Apple TV / Google Play / Amazon – this is marked for every film in the catalogue. Qello is worth it mainly for concerts. For rarities, go for Blu-ray editions (Criterion, BFI) and libraries with DVD collections.

Abroad: for every film you can also see where it streams in the USA 🇺🇸, UK 🇬🇧, Germany 🇩🇪 and France 🇫🇷. These services are mostly available only in that country – handy when travelling, when buying a Blu-ray, or as a sign that the film officially exists and is worth keeping an eye on. Doc'n Roll TV and Plex also work from Czechia.

Books about music

Two kinds of books: 📸 photo books – big collector pieces to look at, and 📖 books to read – biographies, memoirs and histories of genres, scenes and music phenomena. Focus: music after 1930 – jazz, art rock, punk, new wave and dance music. At most 2 books per artist. ⭐ TOP 20 = highest rated across multiple sources (charts, reviews, Goodreads), separately for each kind. Photo books: collector and limited editions yes, signed ones no. Books to read note whether a Czech translation exists. In Prague: Kavka Book and Trh knih.

Your story with music

A few notes and you’re back. In the car with your dad, at your first festival, in the kitchen where you said goodbye to someone.

Ten years later you still know exactly what it smelled like, who stood next to you and what was going through your head. Music remembers for us, and it can bring back one specific moment as vividly as if it happened yesterday.

Music by Heart collects exactly these moments: short, true stories about what a particular song, album or concert means to someone, and why. No genre snobbery: Joy Division, ABBA, Bach, a techno party in the woods or a brass band at a wedding all count the same. We don’t judge taste; we care about what music does to people.

Once there are enough of them, they will start appearing on the Music by Heart Instagram as a map of how deeply music can cut into a life.

Not sure where to start? Try answering:
  • Where were you, how old were you, and what was going on?
  • What exactly did the music do in that moment?
  • Why do you still remember it, and what moves in you when you hear it now?
A few sentences are enough. It doesn’t have to be literature, it just has to be true.
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🔒 Your story can be completely anonymous. We will never publish or share your e-mail; we only use it if we want to ask you something.

Thank you! Your story has been saved. ❤ Feel free to write another, and send this page to someone who has “their” song too.

Crew

Who has seen how many. Click a name to see their films in the catalogue.