[2] The label is focused on a community of underground bands with broad psychedelic influences[3][4] with The Embassy Bar in Kensington Market serving as a common meeting place for the musicians.

[5] Optical Sounds operates without contracts or employees and the organization's main focus is on community based events rather than record releases.

[8] Optical Sounds' roster has included Action Makes,[9] The Auras, B17,[10][11] The BB Guns, Bodies That Matter, The Disraelis, The Hoa Hoa's,[12] The Flowers of Hell including Odes and "O",[13] Magic Shoppe, Mimico, Ostrich Tuning, Planet Creature, Postcards, Sounds Around, Sun Stone Revolvers, Tess Parks, Twist, The Veldt, and Your 33 Black Angels.

[6][14] The label's 2012 compilation Psych Pop From Toronto was curated by Spacemen 3's Will Carruthers and reached the Top 20 of the Canadian campus radio charts.

[18] The label's releases and artists have appeared in media including Pitchfork,[19] the Financial Times,[20] The Guardian,[21] The Quietus,[22] Noisey/Vice,[23] Exclaim!,[24] Drowned In Sound,[25] Now Magazine[26] and on the cover of Eye Weekly,[27] along with numerous music blogs and campus radio stations.