Consumers who download music illegally using file sharing software on the internet could face legal action early next year, the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) warned yesterday.

The organisation, which represents most of the biggest record firms operating in Ireland, said it was monitoring illegal activity and would begin prosecuting people who download music illegally sometime next spring.

Mr Dick Doyle, director general of IRMA, said the group has contracted an outside software firm to monitor illegal activity and send instant messages to consumers engaged in the activity.

He said the messages would warn consumers that they if they continue downloading music illegally they will face prosecution.

IRMA's comments came as the music industry confirmed yesterday that it would sue British, French and Austrian music fans as it intensified its legal crackdown on web song-swappers.

The crackdown on illegal activity will target users of such popular file-sharing networks as Kazaa, eDonkey and Gnutella where internet users can download and exchange songs for free.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said it filed 459 criminal and civil lawsuits against some of the most prolific users of internet file-sharing networks in Britain, France and Austria. The number of legal actions includes a second wave of suits in Germany, Italy and Denmark, countries where similar actions were lodged earlier this year.

The lawsuits were filed on behalf of some of the largest music labels, including EMI, Warner Music and Universal Music.

Rather than going for people simply downloading songs for their own use, they specifically target "uploaders" or those who share their music collection with others, thus creating a vast market in free tunes.

(Additional reporting Reuters)