There is a section of music intended for visual accompaniment, in other words it is used to describe a series of images, such as an advertisement. The correct term is Library Music or even Soundtracks and it encompasses under its umbrella all those records created specifically for TV and radio. Today the digital archive – needless to say – is vast, but before the 2000s we relied on dear old vinyl records. To make the choice faster the cover came into play, which had to be as descriptive as possible. When we discovered service music covers, a world opened up to us. A real Pandora’s box of graphic design, which could experiment here without any kind of pressure dictated by market balances and record labels. On the other hand, it has to be said that some are very ugly, made without the slightest effort precisely because of the absence of commercial purpose, although this factor meant that some even included their children’s scribbles, making these covers completely unique. An additional layer of mystery about this section of music is its rarity. They were produced in very low quantities and intended only for insiders, which is why they are now almost unobtainable and collectible. The ones we saw are by Luca Barcellona who has a personal collection selected by him according to an aesthetic and representative criterion of this genre. On the occasion of BIG, the festival dedicated to graphic design, Barcellona displayed them in the exhibition Musica da Guardare with the intention of «bringing back to the surface a graphic and musical world that is as precious and peculiar as it is partially forgotten.»

Credits Markable & Courtesy Luca Barcellona