diff --git a/core/tags/artist.c b/core/tags/artist.c
index 68f0d668..36397e47 100644
--- a/core/tags/artist.c
+++ b/core/tags/artist.c
@@ -73,6 +73,11 @@ struct artist *artist_find(const gchar *name)
 	return ARTIST(db_find(&artist_db, name));
 }
 
+struct artist *artist_lookup(const gchar *name)
+{
+	return ARTIST(db_get(&artist_db, name));
+}
+
 struct artist *artist_get(const unsigned int index)
 {
 	return ARTIST(db_at(&artist_db, index));
diff --git a/include/core/tags/artist.h b/include/core/tags/artist.h
index e0f76c88..898ea0c5 100644
--- a/include/core/tags/artist.h
+++ b/include/core/tags/artist.h
@@ -31,8 +31,13 @@ void artist_db_init();
 /* Called to clean up the artist database. */
 void artist_db_deinit();
 
-/* Called to find an artist tag by name. */
+/*
+ * Called to find an artist tag by name.  The difference is that artist_find()
+ * will allocate a new artiststruct if the requested one doesn't exist yet,
+ * but library_lookup() will return NULL in this situation.
+ */
 struct artist *artist_find(const gchar *);
+struct artist *artist_lookup(const gchar *);
 
 /* Called to get an artist tag with a specific index. */
 struct artist *artist_get(const unsigned int);
diff --git a/tests/core/tags/artist.c b/tests/core/tags/artist.c
index c35ad242..ae8bd700 100644
--- a/tests/core/tags/artist.c
+++ b/tests/core/tags/artist.c
@@ -80,10 +80,12 @@ static void test_artist_db()
 	struct artist *artist;
 
 	artist_db_init();
+	artist = artist_lookup("Koji Kondo");
+	test_equal((void *)artist, NULL);
 	artist = artist_find("Koji Kondo");
-
 	test_verify_koji(artist);
 
+	test_equal((void *)artist_lookup("Koji Kondo"), (void *)artist);
 	test_equal((void *)artist_find("Koji Kondo"), (void *)artist);
 	test_equal((void *)artist_get(0), (void *)artist);
 	test_equal((void *)artist_get(1), (void *)NULL);