American record label formed in 1958 by Fred Foster and artist; also appears as "Monument Records". Motto:"Monument is artistry".
Label Code: LC 0428 / LC 00428
(Deane left the company shortly after it was created). Soon after, Foster partnered with Bob Moore.
Monument Records was named after the Washington Monument, in Washington, D.C., which is where the company was originally based. Foster then set up a second office for the record company in Hendersonville, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
In the beginning, Monument was the first of London Records distributed labels. During this time, Monument signed Roy Orbison, and Orbison brought success to the label with his hit "Only the Lonely." By 1961, Monument had moved away from London, and to an independent-distributor network.
In 1963, Foster formed a subsidiary label called Sound Stage 7, which was mostly used for the release of Soul/R&B singles. Artists on this label included Joe Simon, The Dixiebelles, Arthur Alexander, and Ivory Joe Hunter.
Another subsidiary, the Rising Sons label, was active from 1967-68. The output of this label was almost entirely made up of singles by artists such as Robert Knight, Bobby Russell, Billy Swan, Ral Donner, Troy Seals, and Charlie McCoy.
In 1971, Foster entered into a distribution arrangement with CBS, and the catalog numbering system for the albums changed to the CBS numbering system. The albums issued on Monument from 1971-76 are not numbered consecutively, and the label design also changed to a brown label.
By 1976, Foster opted to switch distribution, and signed a deal with PolyGram. The items in the catalog were renumbered from the CBS system and reissued using consecutive numbers in one of several new Monument-only series. The new label was black, with "MONUMENT" in three dimensional letters of carved stone.
In 1981 Fred Foster relaunched the label which became distributed by CBS from fall 1982. Soon after, Monument faced economic hardship and had to file for bankruptcy in spring 1983. An attempt to save the label failed and in 1987 the label's catalog, logo, name and trademark were acquired by CBS Special Products. Monument's publishing arm, Combine Music was sold to Entertainment Music Co. Inc in the year before.
Sony Music reactivated the label in 1997 as a country label. During this time, the artists Little Big Town and the Dixie Chicks were signed. Monument Records catalog is managed by Sony Music's Legacy Recordings unit.
The label was revived in 2017 as a joint venture between Sony Music and Sandbox Entertainment.