diff --git a/beets/util/confit.py b/beets/util/confit.py
index 7af3bf733..43469b162 100644
--- a/beets/util/confit.py
+++ b/beets/util/confit.py
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ class Configuration(RootView):
         for appdir in self._search_dirs():
             filename = os.path.join(appdir, CONFIG_FILENAME)
             if os.path.isfile(filename):
-                yield ConfigSource(load_yaml(filename), filename)
+                yield ConfigSource(load_yaml(filename) or {}, filename)
 
     def _default_source(self):
         """Return the default-value source for this program or `None` if
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 720c5d54c..1d412023e 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Changelog
   exiting with an exception. We also avoid an error when track metadata
   contains newlines.
 * Fix a crash when iTunes Sound Check tags contained invalid data.
+* Fix an error when the configuration file (``config.yaml``) is completely
+  empty.
 
 1.1b2 (February 16, 2013)
 -------------------------