Its founders included prominent lesbian figures Ginny Berson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, Jennifer Woodul, Kate Winter and five others.
[4] Women's music labels such as Olivia contributed to a 1970s lesbian sub-culture by providing a public platform for the expression of topics that were lacking in dominant political discourse, and helped consumers develop strategies to cope with, organize, and articulate their experiences.
[5][11] In 1974, Judy Dlugacz, Meg Christian, Ginny Berson, Jennifer Woodhul, and Kate Winter relocated the company from Washington D.C. to California.
But although Olivia Records claimed to benefit all women, the business was primarily led and promoted the interests of white middle-class American lesbians.
[16][17][18][19] Following a sold-out tenth-anniversary best-of concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Olivia's idealist and inexperienced business practices led to significant financial hardship.
[20] In 1988, the record label restructured and morphed into a broader women-centered social business venture resulted in the branding of Olivia, a lesbian travel company.
Unable to reinvent itself for the changing musical landscape for women, from riot grrrl to Lilith Fair to Ani DiFranco, Olivia could no longer sustain itself as a record label.
[11] Early interviews with the founders of Olivia Records show an acute awareness of the radical political message embedded in the very creation of the label.
[22] In this interview, Meg Christian described Olivia Records as a form of lobbying, and Judy Dlugacz directly tied the label to the broader women's movement.
[22] As an independent label, Olivia Records cultivated a fan base through music festivals, coffee houses and bookstores, and mail order catalogs.