Olivia Records is a women's music record label founded in 1973 by lesbian members of the Washington D.C. area. It was founded by Ginny Berson, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, and six other women. Olivia Records sold more than one million records and produced over 40 albums during its twenty years of operation. History A separate lesbian feminist movement emerged in the 1970s that reacted to the discrimination of women within the gay rights and counterculture movements, and to the heteronormativity that was embedded in the 1960s US feminist movement. 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, organize, and articulate their experiences. Cris Williamson encouraged the Olivia collective to use an independent music label as an economic base for lesbian social organizing. Foundation First called the "Olivia Collective," the group that founded the record label named itself and the label after the heroine of a novel by Dorothy Bussy, who fell in love with her headmistress at French boarding school. The heroine and the novel were both called Olivia. The founders—Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, and seven other women—borrowed $4,000 to form the record label. Christian and Williamson were the two best-selling artists signed to Olivia Records. In 1973, the collective released a 45 record with Christian's song "Lady" on one side and Williamson's "If It Weren't for the Music" on the other. The single sold for $1.50, plus mailing costs. Yoko Ono responded and said that she wanted to do a side project with Olivia, but the collective politely declined. Without making themselves dependent on any high-profile person, they made $12,000 with the single, which was enough to release Christian's first album, I Know You Know in 1974, and a year later, Williamson's groundbreaking album The Changer and the Changed. I Know You Know sold over ten thousand copies in its first year, and eventually sold over 70,000 copies for Olivia Records, while The Changer and the Changed became one of the top-selling albums on any independent label. Move to California In 1974, Judy Dlugacz (president), Meg Christian, Ginny Berson, Jennifer Woodhul, and Kate Winter relocated the company from Washington D.C. to California. But Olivia's business philosophy ultimately contributed to financial problems and internal conflicts among staff and