NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Major music recording companies are preparing the next round of legal attacks on unauthorized online music swapping, including possible lawsuits against individuals who are participating in the exchange of songs, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the industry's trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America, which already won a legal battle with online music service Napster, is preparing a new round of copyright lawsuits against the highest volume song providers using peer-to-peer online services.

The paper said that the industry has been reluctant to take legal action against individual Internet users, fearing the bad publicity and possible public backlash possible from dragging individuals into court, particularly if they aren't seeking to make money from the exchange of songs. But the paper said that with the music swapping software already widely distributed, some in the industry have concluded it will take action against individuals to stem the practice of unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted material.

The Journal reports that companies are considering a coordinated public relations campaign to go along with their legal effort, one that may include prominent recording artists urging music fans to respect copyright rules.

The paper also said that executives of the recording companies met a couple of weeks ago to discuss the lawsuits. It said it is not clear that all of the five parent companies of the big record labels are completely behind suing individual users -- specifically citing concerns by AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates), owner of Warner Music as well as CNN/Money, that such suits would bring it into conflicts with customers of its America Online Internet service. The paper said that the recording units of Vivendi Universal SA (V: Research, Estimates) and Sony Corp. (SNE: Research, Estimates) are more supportive of such legal action.