diff --git a/mopidy/config/__init__.py b/mopidy/config/__init__.py
index 66e17c5e..abb44eea 100644
--- a/mopidy/config/__init__.py
+++ b/mopidy/config/__init__.py
@@ -81,11 +81,22 @@ def _load(files, defaults, overrides):
         try:
             with io.open(filename, 'rb') as filehandle:
                 parser.readfp(filehandle)
+        except configparser.MissingSectionHeaderError as e:
+            logging.warning('%s does not have a config section, not loaded.',
+                            filename)
+        except configparser.ParsingError as e:
+            linenos = ', '.join(str(lineno) for lineno, line in e.errors)
+            logger.warning('%s has errors, line %s has been ignored.',
+                            filename, linenos)
         except IOError:
             # TODO: if this is the initial load of logging config we might not
             # have a logger at this point, we might want to handle this better.
             logger.debug('Config file %s not found; skipping', filename)
 
+    # If there have been parse errors there is a python bug that causes the
+    # values to be lists, this little trick coerces these into strings.
+    parser.readfp(io.BytesIO())
+
     raw_config = {}
     for section in parser.sections():
         raw_config[section] = dict(parser.items(section))
diff --git a/tests/config/config_test.py b/tests/config/config_test.py
index 016398ed..84079a2e 100644
--- a/tests/config/config_test.py
+++ b/tests/config/config_test.py
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ class LoadConfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
         result = config._load([path_to_data_dir('file3.conf')], [], [])
         self.assertEqual(expected, result)
 
+    def test_load_file_with_error(self):
+        expected = {'foo': {'bar': 'baz'}}
+        result = config._load([path_to_data_dir('file4.conf')], [], [])
+        self.assertEqual(expected, result)
+
 
 class ValidateTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
diff --git a/tests/data/file4.conf b/tests/data/file4.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b499a48a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/file4.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[foo]
+bar = baz
+foobar