diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index b04c6b95..daad3cc1 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@ a temporary regression of :issue:`527`.
   asyncronously through the GObject event loop. This should resolve the issue
   that has blocked the merge of the EOT-vs-EOS fix for a long time.
 
+**Config file loading**
+
+- The default for the config flag has been updated to include
+  ``$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS`` in addition to ``$XDG_CONFIG_DIR``. (Fixes :issue:`431`)
+
 
 v0.17.0 (2013-11-23)
 ====================
diff --git a/mopidy/commands.py b/mopidy/commands.py
index 36f5ae1a..851bfb83 100644
--- a/mopidy/commands.py
+++ b/mopidy/commands.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import logging
 import os
 import sys
 
+import glib
 import gobject
 
 from mopidy import config as config_lib
@@ -15,6 +16,11 @@ from mopidy.utils import deps, process, versioning
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('mopidy.commands')
 
+_default_config = []
+for base in glib.get_system_config_dirs() + (glib.get_user_config_dir(),):
+    _default_config.append(os.path.join(base, b'mopidy', b'mopidy.conf'))
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = b':'.join(_default_config)
+
 
 def config_files_type(value):
     return value.split(b':')
@@ -243,7 +249,7 @@ class RootCommand(Command):
         self.add_argument(
             '--config',
             action='store', dest='config_files', type=config_files_type,
-            default=b'$XDG_CONFIG_DIR/mopidy/mopidy.conf', metavar='FILES',
+            default=DEFAULT_CONFIG, metavar='FILES',
             help='config files to use, colon seperated, later files override')
         self.add_argument(
             '-o', '--option',