diff --git a/beetsplug/fetchart.py b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
index 003a74f9a..8ba43305b 100644
--- a/beetsplug/fetchart.py
+++ b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
@@ -50,13 +50,25 @@ def _fetch_image(url):
         log.debug('Not an image.')
 
 
+# Cover Art Archive.
+
+CAA_URL = 'http://coverartarchive.org/release/{mbid}/front-500'
+
+def caa_art(release_id):
+    """Fetch album art from the Cover Art Archive given a MusicBrainz
+    release ID.
+    """
+    url = CAA_URL.format(mbid=release_id)
+    return _fetch_image(url)
+
+
 # Art from Amazon.
 
 AMAZON_URL = 'http://images.amazon.com/images/P/%s.%02i.LZZZZZZZ.jpg'
 AMAZON_INDICES = (1, 2)
 
 def art_for_asin(asin):
-    """Fetches art for an Amazon ID (ASIN) string."""
+    """Fetch art for an Amazon ID (ASIN) string."""
     for index in AMAZON_INDICES:
         # Fetch the image.
         url = AMAZON_URL % (asin, index)
@@ -71,6 +83,7 @@ AAO_URL = 'http://www.albumart.org/index_detail.php'
 AAO_PAT = r'href\s*=\s*"([^>"]*)"[^>]*title\s*=\s*"View larger image"'
 
 def aao_art(asin):
+    """Fetch art from AlbumArt.org."""
     # Get the page from albumart.org.
     url = '%s?%s' % (AAO_URL, urllib.urlencode({'asin': asin}))
     try:
@@ -119,14 +132,20 @@ def art_in_path(path):
 # Try each source in turn.
 
 def art_for_album(album, path):
-    """Given an album info dictionary from MusicBrainz, returns a path
-    to downloaded art for the album (or None if no art is found).
+    """Given an AlbumInfo object, returns a path to downloaded art for
+    the album (or None if no art is found).
     """
     if isinstance(path, basestring):
         out = art_in_path(path)
         if out:
             return out
 
+    if album.album_id:
+        log.debug('Fetching album art for MBID {0}.'.format(album.album_id))
+        out = caa_art(album.album_id)
+        if out:
+            return out
+
     if album.asin:
         log.debug('Fetching album art for ASIN %s.' % album.asin)
         out = art_for_asin(album.asin)
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 4ad84a274..ec5bebe02 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ art for your music, enable this plugin after upgrading to beets 1.0b15.
   Thanks to Fabrice Laporte.
 * Album cover art fetching is now encapsulated in the :doc:`/plugins/fetchart`.
   Be sure to enable this plugin if you're using this functionality.
+* :doc:`/plugins/fetchart`: Cover art can now be fetched from the `Cover Art
+  Archive`_, a new image repository from MusicBrainz and the Internet Archive.
+  While its coverage is currently spotty, CAA is growing and its images are
+  generally higher-quality than those from Amazon. You can help out by
+  `submitting new images to the archive`_.
 * Errors when communicating with MusicBrainz now log an error message instead of
   halting the importer.
 * Similarly, filesystem manipulation errors now print helpful error messages
@@ -70,7 +75,10 @@ art for your music, enable this plugin after upgrading to beets 1.0b15.
   already at its destination.
 * Use a nicer error message when input requested but stdin is closed.
 
+.. _submitting new images to the archive:
+    http://musicbrainz.org/doc/How_to_Add_Cover_Art
 .. _artist credits: http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Artist_Credit
+.. _Cover Art Archive: http://coverartarchive.org/
 
 1.0b14 (May 12, 2012)
 ---------------------
diff --git a/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst b/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
index 73cd4967a..043146369 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ the :ref:`art-filename` config option.
 Album Art Sources
 -----------------
 
-Currently, this plugin searches for art in the local filesystem, on Amazon.com,
-and on AlbumArt.org (in that order).
+Currently, this plugin searches for art in the local filesystem, on the `Cover
+Art Archive`_, on Amazon, and on AlbumArt.org (in that order).
 
-When looking for local album art, beets looks for image files located in the
+.. _Cover Art Archive: http://coverartarchive.org/
+
+When looking for local album art, beets checks for image files located in the
 same folder as the music files you're importing. If you have an image file
 called "cover," "front," "art," "album," for "folder" alongside your music,
 beets will treat it as album art and skip searching any online databases.
diff --git a/test/test_art.py b/test/test_art.py
index 26bfbc807..ba6e6666d 100644
--- a/test/test_art.py
+++ b/test/test_art.py
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ class CombinedTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def _urlopen(self, url):
         self.urlopen_called = True
+        self.fetched_url = url
         return StringIO.StringIO(self.page_text)
 
     def test_main_interface_returns_amazon_art(self):
@@ -130,6 +131,14 @@ class CombinedTest(unittest.TestCase):
         fetchart.art_for_album(album, self.dpath)
         self.assertTrue(self.urlopen_called)
 
+    def test_main_interface_uses_caa_when_mbid_available(self):
+        mock_retrieve = MockUrlRetrieve('anotherpath', 'image/jpeg')
+        fetchart.urllib.urlretrieve = mock_retrieve
+        album = AlbumInfo(None, 'releaseid', None, None, None, asin='xxxx')
+        artpath = fetchart.art_for_album(album, None)
+        self.assertEqual(artpath, 'anotherpath')
+        self.assertTrue('coverartarchive.org' in mock_retrieve.fetched)
+
 class AAOTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.old_urlopen = fetchart.urllib.urlopen