diff --git a/docs/changes.rst b/docs/changes.rst
index 9e895419..3232cfcc 100644
--- a/docs/changes.rst
+++ b/docs/changes.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,19 @@ Changes
 This change log is used to track all major changes to Mopidy.
 
 
+0.2.1 (2011-01-07)
+==================
+
+This is a maintenance release without any new features.
+
+**Bugfixes**
+
+- Fix crash in :mod:`mopidy.frontends.lastfm` which occurred at playback if
+  either :mod:`pylast` was not installed or the Last.fm scrobbling was not
+  correctly configured. The scrobbling thread now shuts properly down at
+  failure.
+
+
 0.2.0 (2010-10-24)
 ==================
 
diff --git a/mopidy/__init__.py b/mopidy/__init__.py
index 5e1b26de..350fc8d7 100644
--- a/mopidy/__init__.py
+++ b/mopidy/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ if not (2, 6) <= sys.version_info < (3,):
     sys.exit(u'Mopidy requires Python >= 2.6, < 3')
 
 def get_version():
-    return u'0.2.0'
+    return u'0.2.1'
 
 class MopidyException(Exception):
     def __init__(self, message, *args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/mopidy/frontends/lastfm.py b/mopidy/frontends/lastfm.py
index e91dd272..c4ea73c4 100644
--- a/mopidy/frontends/lastfm.py
+++ b/mopidy/frontends/lastfm.py
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ class LastfmFrontend(BaseFrontend):
         self.thread.destroy()
 
     def process_message(self, message):
-        self.connection.send(message)
+        if self.thread.is_alive():
+            self.connection.send(message)
 
 
 class LastfmFrontendThread(BaseThread):
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ class LastfmFrontendThread(BaseThread):
 
     def run_inside_try(self):
         self.setup()
-        while True:
+        while self.scrobbler is not None:
             self.connection.poll(None)
             message = self.connection.recv()
             self.process_message(message)