Executive producer Oprah Winfrey publicly withdrew from the film shortly before it was released, citing "creative differences", severing a production deal with Apple TV+.

[3][4][5][6] On the Record is the fourth documentary released since the beginning of #MeToo that highlights allegations of sexual abuse against men in power, including Untouchable and the Surviving R. Kelly series.

[7] The film centers on allegations of sexual assault and harassment levied against Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, and features interviews with some of the over 20 women who have accused him, including Sil Lai Abrams, Sherri Hines, Jenny Lumet, and Alexia Norton Jones.

[10][5] The documentary spends the bulk of its screen time on the story of Drew Dixon, a former A&R executive at Def Jam Records who claims that Simmons raped her in his apartment.

[6] After leaving the company to work for Arista Records, Dixon claims that music executive L.A. Reid sabotaged her career when she rejected his sexual advances.

The site's critics consensus reads: "On the Record uses harrowing first-person accounts to powerfully and persuasively confront the entrenched sexism of an industry and its culture.

"[11] Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post's chief film critic, called it "not just a riveting piece of investigative filmmaking, but a comprehensive and crucially important historical text".

[26] The New York Times critic, Devika Girish, observed, "What the film does is bring these accounts to living, breathing and moving life, taking us beyond the media cycles of allegation and denial to a survivor’s intimate confrontations with cultural pressures and trauma.