About GetSongKEY

GetSongKEY is an open source database of song Keys (CC BY 4.0).

What's the colored notation next to song keys?

It is the "Open Key" notation, a system created for Traktor, a DJ software developed by Native Instruments. It simplifies the circle of fifths for people having little to no musical background.

What are the differences between the Camelot Wheel and the Open Key Notation?

They are the same concept, with numbers assigned differently. The Open Key notation uses "d" for Major and "m" for minor, while it's "B" and "A" with the Camelot notation. This mainly a copyright/trademark type of issue.

Why don't we display the Camelot Notation?

The Camelot wheel is a trademarked/copyrighted concept, and for some unknown reason MixedInKey did not grant us a license; even if we are an open source project (CC BY 4.0). We're not even sure that we need a license to show the Camelot notation (what's copyrighted is obscure, and license is badly worded), but we prefer to promote a system that does not need a license anyway. This is the reason why we display Traktor's Open Key Notation instead of MixedInKey's Camelot Notation.
To get the Camelot code, you can use our tool to convert Song Keys to Camelot notation.

What is the Camelot Wheel?

The Camelot concept is a simplistic extension of the circle of fifths: they mapped the traditional major/minor keys into the ASCII character set, and added colors. It is supposedly easier to read. How they were able to patent such a concept which is available for centuries (The Circle of Fifths was invented by Nikolai Diletskii in the late 1670's) is a mystery.