Toronto - A new study commissioned by the Canadian government and conducted by the University of London found no direct evidence that file-sharing either increases or decreases CD purchases in the country, Billboard reported.

"In our analysis of the whole Canadian population we are unable to find any relationship between the number of P2P music tracks that were downloaded and the number CD purchases," states the report, which was authored by department of management professors Birgitte Andersen and Marion Frenz.

The report also found no link between those who say they use file-sharing only to preview music, and their actual CD purchases.

Contrary to suggestions that the music industry's declining CD sales can be blamed on DVDs and other new sources of entertainment, the study found that those who spend more generally on entertainment also buy more CDs.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/29enfa (Billboard)

http://www.ic.gc.ca

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/manop/management/staff/andersen.shtml