quote:The British music industry is to sue 28 internet users it says are illegally swapping music online.The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) says it is targeting "major uploaders" - those who make music available to share free with others.Music file-sharers have been blamed for a decline in world-wide CD sales.The BPI's actions follow that of its US counterpart which is already suing those it calls the worst offenders. It says more cases are expected to come.The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began issuing lawsuits seeking compensation from alleged file-sharers in 2003.More than 5,700 people have since faced legal action, with many settling out of court.A further 459 alleged file-sharers across Europe now face legal action, the global music industry body said on Thursday, with France and Austria also targeted for the first time.MUSIC LAWSUITS WORLD-WIDE5,700 in the US300 in Denmark168 in Germany50 in France100 in AustriaThe file-sharers use software such as Kazaa, Grokster, Imesh, Bearshare and WinMX to trade music.BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said: "We have been warning for months that unauthorised file-sharing is illegal. These are not people casually downloading the odd track."They are uploading music on a massive scale, effectively stealing the livelihoods of thousands of artists and the people who invest in them."However, the legal action in the UK comes as the music industry reports sales of both CDs and singles in the country are recovering after years of decline.Critics of the legal action say it is misleading to suggest that it is online piracy causing a slump in sales, and that it is a mistake to sue the very audience which is needed to support the industry.Warning messagesThe BPI warned in March it would take legal action against users of peer-to-peer music services, which allow people to swap tracks online.It has since sent more than 350,000 internet messages to desktops warning people the song-swapping sites they were using were being watched.The BPI believes a hardcore 15% of file-sharers are responsible for 75% of all illegal music downloading.The popularity of music downloading largely caught the music industry by surprise, meaning it has been playing catch-up in the fight to tackle it.But now there are many legal download sites, where users pay for the music and the money goes back to the recording artists."We have resisted legal action as long as we could," Mr Jaimeson said."We have done everything we can to raise awareness of this problem. But we believe we would be derelict in our duty to protect and promote British music were we not to take action."The BPI's move is part of a co-ordinated effort by the worldwide music industry to fight unauthorised file-sharing.'Targeting fans'But media analyst Simon Dyson, of the Informa Group, said it could be difficult to change the habits of a whole generation."There are some kids that have probably never bought a CD," he told BBC One's Breakfast programme."They started downloading when they were 11 or 12 and they have never bought a CD. It's going to be a problem for the BPI to turn those around.""But there's no excuse for downloading music illegally," he added.Tom Dunmore, of Rip & Burn magazine, said it was not unlike the battle against taping music from the radio which was waged in the 1970s and 80s."What home taping did was make music fans of a whole generation of kids," he told Breakfast."There will always be that element of illegal copying going on."He said that by targeting the biggest uploaders, the BPI was attacked the "biggest music fans"."There's a logic behind getting that generation that is used to getting music for free to move over but there are other ways of doing it. Cutting prices is key."
