[HN Gopher] Online Collection of Keygen Music
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       Online Collection of Keygen Music
        
       Author : mifydev
       Score  : 156 points
       Date   : 2025-07-30 02:53 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (keygenmusic.tk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (keygenmusic.tk)
        
       | stuckkeys wrote:
       | That is awesome.
        
       | charcircuit wrote:
       | >There is no illegal content. Just music from keygens
       | 
       | Does this mean this site properly licensed these songs?
        
         | 1970-01-01 wrote:
         | Yes, I believe it does. No lawyer knows who the hell these
         | underground artists are or if it is even possible to sue them.
         | The first step in any lawsuit is have someone to take from.
        
           | dehrmann wrote:
           | It's actually the artists who can sue since it's their work
           | being distributed. The distributor might have a fair use
           | argument since the purpose is artistic preservation and the
           | artists clearly never intended to profit off the songs. If a
           | trendy DJ remixed one and it saw commercial success, the
           | original artist might have a case.
        
       | jimmydoe wrote:
       | brought back lots of nice memories
        
       | glimshe wrote:
       | Great memories. "Keygen music" feels like a genre of electronic
       | music... Are there people making electronic music that sounds
       | like Keygen music but with modern instruments?
        
         | nvllsvm wrote:
         | mind.in.a.box's album "R.E.T.R.O." (2010) has a few songs that
         | sound keygen-esque (aka chiptune).
         | 
         | Not all their stuff sounds like that, but I've been a big fan
         | since first discovering them via a sample included in the XMMS2
         | media player way back in the early 2000's.
        
         | lock1 wrote:
         | Tracker music? Pretty sure communities that develop those tools
         | and use them to create music still exist.
         | 
         | Relevant link: Ahoy - Trackers: The Sound of 16-Bit -
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roBkg-iPrbw
        
         | webstrand wrote:
         | Well, there's still people making still making chiptunes, and
         | there's still interest in developing tracker technology both
         | for chiptunes (i.e. OpenMPT) and for music composition in
         | general (Renoise DAW).
         | 
         | <https://4mat.bandcamp.com/album/modern-closure> came out in
         | 2019 and is one of my favorite albums of all time, but I'm not
         | sure that it fits all of the elements of "keygen music" which
         | are hard to pin down.
        
         | JdeBP wrote:
         | It's a whole YouTube genre. Witness this chiptune version of
         | Howard Carter's _Stand-up Maths Theme_ :
         | 
         | * https://youtube.com/watch?v=PHiJpwrLCUA
        
         | jaharios wrote:
         | The Glitch Mob?
        
       | chrisco23 wrote:
       | Ha! Memories from 25 years ago when you had to run Windoze for
       | your audio and sometimes chess software.
        
         | JdeBP wrote:
         | More than 25 years.
         | 
         | The first thing that it played to me was _Crockett 's Theme_.
         | 
         | I spent the first few seconds looking at the description, which
         | said something else, and saying to myself "No, that's
         | definitely _Crockett 's Theme_.".
        
       | fortydegrees wrote:
       | I've been looking for that Paradox Photoshop CS2 one for years.
       | Great nostalgic memories.
       | 
       | I've always been in slight awe of these kind of teams/releases.
       | Cracking (mostly) for the raw intellectual challenge and bundling
       | it with demoscene-ish artistic expression - usually a unique UI
       | and obviously a great chiptune. I've always wondered why that
       | behaviour emerged..
        
         | bryant wrote:
         | > I've always wondered why that behaviour emerged..
         | 
         | Speculating: there may be parallels between this and other
         | fields with entirely unnecessary artistic expression. Think
         | watchmaking where watch movements with superlative finishing
         | are celebrated and often command premium pay (e.g watches with
         | the Geneva Seal). Beyond a certain point, the finishing adds
         | absolutely nothing to the watch aside from showcasing talent.
         | 
         | There's something to the idea that if someone spent a ton of
         | effort building something, even if it's superfluous, it garners
         | a level of trust in the end product.
        
         | xyst wrote:
         | I used to hang in those IRC channels. Some of the "crews"
         | mentioned spending more time on creating graphics, mixing new
         | sound rather than cracking/reverse engineering the software
         | itself.
        
         | daneel_w wrote:
         | _> I've always wondered why that behaviour emerged.._
         | 
         | Because they share the same roots, the same general "scene".
         | The demo groups and the crack groups always mingled. We were
         | all "sceners". Tons of groups had a presence in both areas.
         | Most of the graphic artists and musicians were mainly part of
         | the demo scene but lent their talent here and there.
         | 
         | (Computer-wise I grew up in the C64 and the Amiga demo scenes
         | during the early-to-late 90s.)
        
       | mdavid626 wrote:
       | Really cool!
        
       | djeastm wrote:
       | This music was always great, but always played so loudly.
        
       | darknavi wrote:
       | Seems to be missing one of my most nostalgic from Sony Vegas 9
       | cracks:
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmdprbBOMT8
        
         | SuperShibe wrote:
         | ,,This is EPIC" - King Harkinian
        
         | swinglock wrote:
         | Unreal Superhero 3! I'm also fond of the ORiON Nero tracks for
         | some reason. Also dubmood.
        
       | officeplant wrote:
       | Impressive collection, the although website is slamming my poor
       | T8100 powered thinkpad to 100% at times listening to the
       | collection.
        
       | kls0e wrote:
       | try Estrayk - Her Collection
        
       | pie_flavor wrote:
       | An album of keygen music covers and remixes:
       | https://sgfr.highquality.rip/sgfr-0009/index.html
        
       | irusensei wrote:
       | "I've opened that site and the activate windows watermark on my
       | desktop vanished."
       | 
       | I'm joking. I don't use Windows.
        
       | EDM115 wrote:
       | as covered in this YouTube video : "The Soundtrack of Online
       | Piracy" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHgcrdv8zpM)
        
       | larodi wrote:
       | 2621 is sa remix of Bubble Bobble II gameplay music.
        
       | throaway5454 wrote:
       | I forgot about this site! Keygen music is one of our unsung
       | cultural treasures imo
        
       | cluckindan wrote:
       | If you like this kinda music, check out 4champ and modizer on
       | iOS.
        
       | daneel_w wrote:
       | I always considered this the real deal and authorative collection
       | of chip tunes: https://ftp.modland.com/
       | 
       | Modland is over 20 years old at this point.
        
       | joecool1029 wrote:
       | Wild they still have a .tk domain, I paid for one and when
       | renewal came up it was not possible to renew due to the Meta
       | lawsuit. Wonder how much time they have left....
        
       | sdenton4 wrote:
       | SharpPlus Sqlite Developer v3.2.8.354 goes hard.
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | The S3M modules which came with the BB demo from AAlib were
       | magical.
        
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       (page generated 2025-08-02 23:00 UTC)