diff --git a/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc b/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc
index 4bd47aa0eb..60388f394e 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/session_playlists.cc
@@ -484,6 +484,7 @@ SessionPlaylists::load (Session& session, const XMLNode& node)
 
 		if ((playlist = XMLPlaylistFactory (session, **niter)) == 0) {
 			error << _("Session: cannot create Playlist from XML description.") << endmsg;
+			return -1;
 		}
 	}