diff --git a/mopidy/utils/settings.py b/mopidy/utils/settings.py
index d6c5d644..87e5952a 100644
--- a/mopidy/utils/settings.py
+++ b/mopidy/utils/settings.py
@@ -151,13 +151,6 @@ def validate_settings(defaults, settings):
                 errors[setting] = u'Deprecated setting. Use %s.' % (
                     changed[setting],)
 
-        elif setting == 'BACKENDS':
-            if 'mopidy.backends.despotify.DespotifyBackend' in value:
-                errors[setting] = (
-                    u'Deprecated setting value. '
-                    u'"mopidy.backends.despotify.DespotifyBackend" is no '
-                    u'longer available.')
-
         elif setting == 'OUTPUTS':
             errors[setting] = (
                 u'Deprecated setting, please change to OUTPUT. OUTPUT expects '
diff --git a/tests/utils/settings_test.py b/tests/utils/settings_test.py
index 5ce643cb..a57ed729 100644
--- a/tests/utils/settings_test.py
+++ b/tests/utils/settings_test.py
@@ -39,16 +39,6 @@ class ValidateSettingsTest(unittest.TestCase):
             result['SPOTIFY_LIB_APPKEY'],
             u'Deprecated setting. It may be removed.')
 
-    def test_deprecated_setting_value_returns_error(self):
-        result = setting_utils.validate_settings(
-            self.defaults,
-            {'BACKENDS': ('mopidy.backends.despotify.DespotifyBackend',)})
-        self.assertEqual(
-            result['BACKENDS'],
-            u'Deprecated setting value. '
-            u'"mopidy.backends.despotify.DespotifyBackend" is no longer '
-            u'available.')
-
     def test_unavailable_bitrate_setting_returns_error(self):
         result = setting_utils.validate_settings(
             self.defaults, {'SPOTIFY_BITRATE': 50})