diff --git a/app/controllers/import_controller.rb b/app/controllers/import_controller.rb
index ca84e85..1854660 100644
--- a/app/controllers/import_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/import_controller.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class ImportController < ApplicationController
     
     begin
       lastfm_artist = lastfm.artist.get_info(name)
-      unless artist.mbid.nil?
+      unless artist.mbid.nil? or artist.mbid.empty?
         brainz_artist = MusicBrainz::Artist.find(artist.mbid)
       else
         brainz_artist = MusicBrainz::Artist.find_by_name(name)
diff --git a/lib/tasks/lastfm_import.rake b/lib/tasks/lastfm_import.rake
index e29dc0c..98b71e1 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/lastfm_import.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/lastfm_import.rake
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ namespace :lastfm do
     desc 'Import top 1000 artists from last.fm'
     task :top => :environment do
       ImportController.parseLastfmXML('tmp/data/top1000.xml').each do |artist|
-        puts artist[:name] + (artist[:mbid].nil? ? '' : ' (' + artist[:mbid] + ')')
+        puts artist[:name] + (artist[:mbid].empty? ? '' : ' (' + artist[:mbid] + ')')
         record = Artist.find_or_create_by_name(artist[:name])
         record.mbid = artist[:mbid]
         record.save