Don Giovanni Records was founded by Joe Steinhardt and Zach Gajewski while they were living in Boston in 2003.

[1] Steinhardt and Gajewski started the label while playing in bands and attending college at Boston University, where the two had met.

After graduation they moved to New Brunswick, where Steinhardt was from, in order to make the label a full-time operation.

The label is best known for developing artists like Screaming Females, Mitski, Waxahatchee, Laura Stevenson, Moor Mother, and Irreversible Entanglements, as well as fostering a geographically diverse community of artists, including Mal Blum, Native American Music Award “Best Artist” winner Keith Secola, Holy Modal Rounders founder, Peter Stampfel, Lavender Country, Swamp Dogg, Alice Bag, and comedian Chris Gethard.

Eliot, Jeffrey Lewis, Peter Stampfel, Worriers, Paisley Fields, and Lavender Country as well as comedian Chris Gethard have released records on Don Giovanni.