diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 70d5b25..c650d5a 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.4.3
\ No newline at end of file
+0.4.8
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb b/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb
index ba04265..18a33b8 100644
--- a/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb
+++ b/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ module MusicBrainz
     def self.search name
       artists = []
       xml = Nokogiri::XML(MusicBrainz.load(
-        'http://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist/?query='+ URI.escape(name).gsub(/\&/, '%26').gsub(/\?/, '%3F') +'~&limit=50'
+        'http://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist/?query='+ CGI.escape(name).gsub(/\!/, '') +'~&limit=50'
       ))
       xml.css('artist-list > artist').each do |a|
         artist = {
diff --git a/lib/musicbrainz.rb b/lib/musicbrainz.rb
index f256070..5314f1c 100644
--- a/lib/musicbrainz.rb
+++ b/lib/musicbrainz.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 require "open-uri"
 require "socket"
 require "nokogiri"
+require "cgi"
 
 require "models/music_brainz"
 require "models/music_brainz/artist"