Music downloaders wary of lawsuits

Driven largely by fears of copyright lawsuits, more than 17 million Americans, or 14 per cent of adult internet users, have stopped downloading music over the internet, a survey has found.

But the overall percentage of people who say they do so had inched back up since November, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said in a study yesterday.

A third of the former downloaders - nearly 6 million - say they stopped because of the highly publicised lawsuits filed by the recording industry since last northern summer against more than 1000 users.

Labels can demand US$150,000 ($241,740) a song for copyright infringement.

Even many of those still downloading music - 38 per cent - say they are doing so less frequently because of the lawsuits.