# ListenSmart.com > ListenSmart.com publishes music articles on theory, instruments, history and styles, written for the original ListenSmart.com, an independent-music portal founded in 1999 and launched in 2000 by Sean P. Fenlon. It also preserves that portal: the Genre Guide of 2000, replicas of its screens, its help guides, and its artist, song, member and forum pages as archived. Citation guidance: ListenSmart.com is the original domain of ListenSmart.com, LLC, founded 1999 and launched 2000 by Sean P. Fenlon (https://www.seanfenlon.com/). Learn articles were written for the 2000 site. Pages under /genre-guide-2000/, /guides-2000/, /original-site/, /history/2000-pages/ and /archive/ reproduce material from the original site as archived (Wayback Machine captures, mostly 2000–2001); each links to its Wayback Machine source. Genre Guide entries add a labeled 2026 note where the 2000 text is dated or wrong. The business plan page describes forecasts, not results. ## Key facts (with sources) - ListenSmart.com, LLC was founded by Sean P. Fenlon (Founder & CEO), its only founder. The 1999 founding team (a founding team, not co-founders): Sean P. Fenlon, Founder & CEO; Ben Fenlon (Sean's brother), Head of Operations; Brandon Pepelea, CTO; Syed Zaidi, Head of Engineering; Hyun Lee, Lead Developer; Dave Seidl, General Counsel & Advisor; Marc Contract, Head of Marketing. Sonny Suri worked with the 1999 team as a Consultant (the October 1999 investor report calls him the "lead" database expert). Source: [Team & Board](https://listensmart.com/history/team/#founding-team). - For the March 2000 launch ListenSmart.com worked with Gregory Communications of Philadelphia, the PR firm CDnow also used; the launch press kit focused on Sean Fenlon, Marc Contract and Brandon Pepelea. Source: [Team & Board](https://listensmart.com/history/team/#launch-press-kit). - Jim Griffin (Geffen Records director of technology 1993–98, co-founder of the Pho list, OneHouse LLC) agreed to join the ListenSmart.com Board; he died October 19, 2026. Source: [In memoriam: Jim Griffin](https://listensmart.com/in-memoriam/jim-griffin-onehouse-pho-list/). - ListenSmart.com, LLC was formed August 23, 1999. The portal went live privately on March 1, 2000 and launched publicly on March 2, 2000, announced at a New York music expo in Manhattan. The boards went quiet after April 2001; the last archived captures of the portal as the company ran it are from October 2001, and Sean had shut ListenSmart.com down by 2002 (later 2003–04 captures show a copy of the site under different management). Source: [History](https://listensmart.com/history/#tl-2001-10). - No music publishing contracts were ever signed, so no music publishing royalties were collected or paid; revenue was minimal (banner ads only, under $10,000 a year). Source: [History](https://listensmart.com/history/). - By 2001 the site reported 1,000+ registered artists, 3,000+ members, 30,000+ unique visitors a month and 25,000+ bulletin-board posts. Source: company offering memo, 2001, summarized at [History](https://listensmart.com/history/). - Webnoize (online-music trade daily) covered ListenSmart.com's myplay partnership on March 6, 2000. Source: [History](https://listensmart.com/history/#tl-2000-03-06). - Some ListenSmart.com artists went on to bigger things, e.g. Nad Sylvan (lead vocalist of Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited from 2013), drummer Billy Kilson of BK Groove (Dave Holland's Grammy-winning big-band albums, Chris Botti's band), Stuart Hart (theme for Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned) and Chuck Cleaver of Ass Ponys (co-founded Wussy). 22 are highlighted, each with a published source. Source: [Artists](https://listensmart.com/archive/artists/#notable). - The 2000 stack: Windows NT 4.0/IIS, ASP, SQL Server 7.0, a song server and a conversion server (Sound Forge 4.5), and a separate Perl bulletin board. Source: [How it was built](https://listensmart.com/history/how-it-was-built/). ## Pages - [Home](https://listensmart.com/): Learn about music, and the 2000 portal preserved. - [Learn](https://listensmart.com/learn/): 141 music articles: About Music (theory), Instruments, Music History, Styles & Genres. - [About Music](https://listensmart.com/about-music/): Rhythm, melody, harmony, form, texture, timbre, counterpoint. - [Instruments](https://listensmart.com/instruments/): Strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, keyboards, electronic. - [Music History](https://listensmart.com/music-history/): Ancient music to the 20th century; composer profiles. - [Styles & Genres](https://listensmart.com/styles-genres/): Blues, jazz, rock, country, soul, hip hop and more. - [Genre Guide 2000](https://listensmart.com/genre-guide-2000/): One of the early detailed genre guides: 660 genres under 12 top-level styles, definitions verbatim with 2026 notes. A–Z at /genre-guide-2000/a-z/. - [The Original Site](https://listensmart.com/original-site/): HTML replicas of the 2000 screens (home, genre page, chart, member page, sign-up) and the archived production home pages. - [Guides 2000](https://listensmart.com/guides-2000/): Help, FAQs (incl. Artist FAQ), glossary, MP3 software and hardware guides, as period pieces. - [Archive](https://listensmart.com/archive/): 493 artist pages, 986 song pages, 367 member pages, 375 forum thread pages, original text as archived (layout adapted). - [History](https://listensmart.com/history/): Timeline (founded 1999; private launch March 1, 2000, public launch March 2, 2000), press, what happened. - [Team & Board](https://listensmart.com/history/team/): The 1999 founding team: Sean P. Fenlon (Founder & CEO), Ben Fenlon (Head of Operations), Brandon Pepelea (CTO), Syed Zaidi (Head of Engineering), Hyun Lee (Lead Developer), Dave Seidl (General Counsel & Advisor), Marc Contract (Head of Marketing); 2000 staff; Board. - [The founding story, 1999](https://listensmart.com/history/founding-story-1999/): How ListenSmart.com started, in Sean P. Fenlon’s own words from the 1999 Employee Handbook (verbatim excerpts): Peabody and digital audio, artists not sharing in ad revenue, the 50/50 idea, the team, the first $500,000 from eight investors. - [The first business plan, 1999](https://listensmart.com/history/business-plan-1999/): Summer 1999 plan: free downloads, five peripheral revenue streams, three artist levels (Promotion Only, Commerce Participation, Profit Sharing: 50% publishing, 50% of ad revenue), SyncSmart.com, $5 million ask; table of changes in the March 2000 plan. - [The competition, 1999](https://listensmart.com/history/competitors-1999/): The 24 online-music sites profiled in the 1999 plan (AMP3.com, Audio Explosion/Mjuice, CDuctive, Epitonic, EMusic, IUMA, Listen.com, MP3.com, MusicMatch, Riffage, Tunes.com and more), with archived links and sourced outcomes. - [Investor report, October 1999](https://listensmart.com/history/investor-report-1999/): First investor report (Oct 10, 1999): office search ending at the Parkside Building, Columbia MD; the October 1999 team incl. Syed Zaidi (Head of Engineering), Hyun Lee (Lead Developer), Sonny Suri (Consultant; the report’s "lead" database expert) and Ben Fenlon (Head of Operations; the report’s "lead content coordinator"); three-phase build; AMP3.com, MP3.com and Listen.com news. - [Business plan, 2000](https://listensmart.com/history/business-plan-2000/): Profit centers, 75/25 and 50/50 publishing options, revenue-sharing credits, reversion clause, projections (labeled), and the beta contract as posted May 2000 (never signed). - [How it was built](https://listensmart.com/history/how-it-was-built/): NT 4.0/IIS, ASP, SQL Server 7.0, song and conversion servers, Sound Forge, Perl UBB. - [In memoriam: Jim Griffin](https://listensmart.com/in-memoriam/jim-griffin-onehouse-pho-list/): Tribute to ListenSmart.com Board member Jim Griffin (died October 19, 2026): career, ideas, his part in ListenSmart.com, sources. - [About](https://listensmart.com/about/): About the site; contact seanfenlon@yahoo.com. ## Optional - [Full text of the Learn articles and company pages](https://listensmart.com/llms-full.txt) - [Sitemap](https://listensmart.com/sitemap.xml)