diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 5d4294b..2411653 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.5.1
\ No newline at end of file
+0.5.2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb b/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb
index dab7263..447b8df 100644
--- a/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb
+++ b/lib/models/music_brainz/artist.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ module MusicBrainz
     
     def self.search name
       artists = []
-      xml = Nokogiri::XML(MusicBrainz.load(:artist, :query => CGI.escape(name).gsub(/\!/, '') + '~', :limit => 50))
+      xml = Nokogiri::XML(MusicBrainz.load(:artist, :query => CGI.escape(name).gsub(/\!/, '\!') + '~', :limit => 50))
       xml.css('artist-list > artist').each do |a|
         artist = {
           :name => a.first_element_child.text.gsub(/[`’]/, "'"),