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sales of CDs, actually did not stand up to their results. Andersen and Frenz (2008) argue that an interest in music translates to music purchases on CDs. Theoverall conclusion of this study is that there is a strong link between file-sharing and CD purchasing. For Canadians, it means that P2P file-sharing increase the sales of CDs. This comes about through the opportunity of people to listen to music and then decide to buy it (Andersen & Frenz 2007).

A study conducted in Japan (Tanaka 2004) also tested the notion that downloaded music hurt the sales of CDs. Tanaka (2004) researched the topic and looked at music downloads in Japan. In Japan the downloads are being done over anonymous file servers, so people who download are less concerned with copyright laws. He looked at many variables of sales and downloads. His final conclusion was that there is no evidence to suggest and show that downloaded music affected a drop in sales of CD sales.

Another study conducted by Liebowitz (2005) returned some results. One main conclusion was that more research was needed to test the thesis that file-sharing and downloading hurts the music and CD industry. It is clear that academics do not agree with research findings to this effect. Liebowitz contends that his research shows that sales have been affected, however, it is not a cut and dried decision. He recommends that more economists should be engaged in the study of the effect of downloads and file-sharing of music on the music CD industry. His argument is that economists will draw more on sales figures and profits and losses and present a clearer picture of the thesis of the effects of music downloads on CD sales.

Leung (2009) conducted research to test two beliefs of music piracy. The first one is whether music piracy hurts CD sales and the second about the idea that copyright laws might stop music pairacy. His research reveals that the music industry is hurt by music piracy, however, he disagrees with the results of Oberholzer and Strumpf (2007). Furthermore, he links music piracy to sales of Apple iPods and argues the case that more piracy will prevail and that in turn will enhance the sales of iPods. This stands to reason ,as iPods are favored to listen to music and the music for the iPod is downloaded, either legally (paid) or pirated.

结论———CONCLUSION:

An ongoing debate prevails about whether music downloads affects price and demand as well as the sales of music CDs. From the various researches that had been conducted, different researchers delivered different results.

Oberholzer and Strumpf (2002) contend that the CD sales did not suffer much. According to them, sales could increase slightly as people are exposed to more songs and go and buy the album. Tanaka (2004) asserted that the downloads of music in Japan did not affect the sales of CD s there. Andersen and Frenz (2007) found that sales increase in Canada as a result of downloading. They argue that music lovers could be exposed to certain music songs and then decide to go and buy the album.Leung (2009) argues that the music industry suffers due to pirated music downloads as a result of the popularity of the iPod listening device.