Some kids choose the football team or cheer squad as extra-curricular activities in high school. Others join the band or debate team. And then there is Matt Levine — who chooses alternative music.

As a 15-year-old sophomore at Oak Park High School in Agoura, Calif., Levine manages a music website and newsletter that is read by an estimated 5,000 people every week.

“I wanted to do something a little more unique,” Levine said about his newsletter. “It looks good on college applications, but mostly I do it because it’s fun for me.”

Levine said his project also helps him spread out his musical tastes, which lie somewhere between Smashing Pumpkins, Sebadoh and the Goo Goo Dolls.

The newsletter, titled “Matt Levine’s Top 50/Alternative Rock World Mailing List,” contains everything from new releases to song lyrics. “We’re also going to do more concert reviews,” Levine said.

The admitted Internet junkie, who has been online for three years, will celebrate two years of mailing lists this July. He and partner Jeff Redmon, one of the first subscribers to the Levine’s Top 50, have been producing the Alternative Rock World website for one year.

Redmon, who lives in Oregon, shares the duties of the site and mailing list with Levine, despite living in separate states. The duo finally met in person two weeks ago when Redmon traveled to Los Angeles for the K-Rock Weenie Roast.

Levine said he first became interested in music about ten years ago when he became fascinated with his cousin’s love for Depeche Mode. “I have loved it ever since,” he said.

Levine loves music so much he listens to the radio about 10 hours a week and frequently hangs out at K-Rock’s “extraordinary website.”

To help rank his Top 50 each week, Levine keeps a tally on how often the Santa Barbara radio stations play each song on his list. He then uses about 60 percent opinion and 40 percent airplay to determine each song’s ranking.

Of the thousands of Levine readers, very few are his classmates, who Levine describes as trend followers. “No one that goes to my high school likes my kind of music,” he said.

Levine’s music collection contains over 400 CDs, most of which he bought used. “I don’t make a lot of money doing this,” he said.

But that could change. Levine, who hopes to someday work in the music industry, has already started making connections with such labels as Virgin, A & M and Mercury.

“I would rather work directly in the business, maybe for a label as a high-up executive,” he said. Levine even started his own label a year ago and released one disc before costs caused it to fizzle.

Levine’s connections have helped him set up interviews with the Bloodhound Gang, Orbit, Blinker the Star and Silver Jet.

“Lupus (of the Bloodhound Gang) contacted me and said, ‘I hear you have “Fire Water Burn” on your list,’ so I asked him if he wanted to do an interview and he said sure,” Levine explained.

Levine works about five hours a week on his mailing list, not including the time he spends checking the 10 to 20 e-mail messages he receives after every issue.

One downfall of the mailing list, Levine said, is the negative letters he receives after giving a bad review. “I don’t like giving bad reviews,” he admitted. “I don’t really like No Doubt and so I had a friend do the review. He gave it a B- and people still complained.”

Another one of Levine’s complaints has to do with his age. Although Los Angeles hosts an enormous number of concerts every month, Levine said he doesn’t get to see many live bands.

“I’m too young,” he said. “L.A. is so spread out, and I’m in the middle of nowhere. The closest place is maybe 40 miles and I can’t even drive yet.”

Levine said his goal is to reach as many people as some of his favorite music sites, like allaccess.com, do.

Anyone can subscribe to Levine’s weekly mailing list by e-mailing him at [email protected] or by checking out his website at altrockworld.com.