The record industry sued four St. Louis-area residents, two other Missourians and people in nine other states this week, claiming they illegally downloaded copyrighted music.

In all, the Recording Industry Association of America has sued 18,200 individuals over songs the industry says have been illegally downloaded or made available for uploading by others online, spokeswoman Amanda Hunter said Thursday.

In Missouri, the RIAA has filed 119 cases and settled 63, she said. Some have been settled for thousands of dollars, according to court records, but Hunter said she did not have total figures on Thursday and could not access current figures for Illinois lawsuits.

“Lime Wire LLC does not encourage or condone the illegal copying of copyrighted material,” says a notice on its Web site.

Although 367 million songs were downloaded legally in 2005, industry documents say that illegal downloading dwarfs that number.

In April, industry estimates were that five times as many songs were downloaded illegally from the most popular peer-to-peer sites as were downloaded legally.

The industry believes it is winning some battles. Studies cited by the RIAA show that more people now understand that downloading songs is illegal, and that illegal file-sharing Web sites are closing down or going legitimate.

The threat of a lawsuit is the industry’s most effective weapon in steering listeners away from illegal downloads, according to a survey cited by the industry.
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