The company is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded the label in December 1980.
Before founding Dischord, both MacKaye and Nelson were members of the Teen Idles, and the label was initially meant to only foster a single release from the defunct band, the Minor Disturbance EP.
[1] Bands such as Minor Threat, Government Issue, The Faith, Void, Youth Brigade, Iron Cross, Embrace, Rites of Spring, The Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Scream, Soulside, Gray Matter, Jawbox, Marginal Man, Shudder to Think, Dag Nasty, Lungfish and Fugazi have released records on the label.
additions to the Dischord roster include Q and Not U, Beauty Pill, Faraquet, Black Eyes, and The Aquarium.
However, unlike many record labels with similar systems, smaller releases such as singles, split albums, and co-releases with other labels have often been assigned a catalog number using a fraction or decimal.