The settlements relate to 28 lawsuits filed by the BPI in October, part of a wave of legal actions filed across Europe in an attempt by the music industry to halt the growth of illegal file-sharing.
The cases, a combination of criminal and civil suits, targeted major "uploaders" – those people charged with putting hundreds of copyrighted songs on to internet file-sharing networks, offering them, potentially, to millions of people worldwide without permission from the copyright owners.
Of the 28 UK file-sharers involved, two had been sued twice. According to the Telegraph newspaper they had held accounts under two different identities.
Three cases are still in negotiation, but 23 have now settled.
The settlements, with 17 men and six women aged between 22 and 58, are with internet users from all over the UK and from all walks of life – including a student, the director of an IT company, and a local councillor, according to the BPI.
The BPI said that some of the account holders involved in the settlements were parents, and, from looking at the files they were distributing, it's likely that they settled on behalf of their children.
The average settlement was more than £2,000. Two file-sharers are paying more than £4,000 each to settle their cases.
"We are determined to find people who illegally distribute music, whichever peer-to-peer network they use, and to make them compensate the artists and labels they are stealing from," said BPI General Counsel Geoff Taylor. "These settlements show we can and we will enforce the law. No one should be in any doubt that we will continue to do so."
The BPI announced on Friday that it would be going to the High Court to seek orders for the disclosure of the identities of a further 31 illegal file-sharers on a range of peer-to-peer networks, including KaZaA, eDonkey, Grokster, Soulseek, DirectConnect, Limewire, Bearshare and Imesh.
Taylor added:
"If illegal file-sharers think that they can avoid getting caught by staying away from the most popular networks like KaZaA, they're wrong. We are going to continue bringing cases against people who distribute music illegally, whichever file-sharing network they use, for as long as it's necessary. Legitimate music services can only prosper if we continue to fight the theft of music on the internet."
