El Music Group is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 created by rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 Collective Soul

Collective Soul

Collective Soul is an American rock band originally formed in Stockbridge, Georgia. Collective Soul broke into mainstream popularity with their first hit single, "Shine", which came from their debut album Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid, released in 1993...

. After departing from Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 in 2001, the band set this label up to release all its future albums.

The first album released by Collective Soul on the label was the band's sixth studio album, Youth

Youth (Collective Soul album)

----Youth is the sixth studio album by Collective Soul, released in November 2004. The album was the band's first on their own label, EL Music Group, after leaving Atlantic Records following the release of their greatest hits album, 7even Year Itch...

, in 2004. Beyond that two compilation releases, 2005s From the Ground Up

From the Ground Up

From the Ground Up is an acoustic EP by Collective Soul, released on May 24, 2005. The EP peaked #129 on the Billboard 200. There is a hidden track after Satellite that plays at 4:15, about a minute after the song finishes.-Track listing:...

and 2006s Home

Home (Collective Soul/Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra album)

Home: A Live Concert Recording With The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra is a live album by Atlanta-based American alternative rock band, Collective Soul. The performance is from two live Atlanta concerts with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra...

(a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra

Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra

The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, commonly known as the ASYO, is an organization featuring Atlanta's young instrumentalists, created in 1974....

 in April 2005), were released before the band announced their seventh studio album in the summer of 2007.

Afterwords

Afterwords (Collective Soul album)

Afterwords is the seventh studio album by Atlanta-based rock band Collective Soul, it was released on August 28, 2007. The album was released digitally in the iTunes Store and physical copies of the album were available only at Target Stores following an exclusive deal the band made with the chain...

was the first album released by the band under an exclusive physical format (CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

) deal with Target Stores. The chain was the only retailer where CDs of the album could be purchased, but it was also released as a digital download

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 in the iTunes Store

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

.