diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.cc b/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.cc
index 569c0e2197..3ffea61b33 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.cc
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.cc
@@ -141,7 +141,8 @@ HttpGet::~HttpGet ()
 char*
 HttpGet::get (const char* url)
 {
-	if (!_curl) {
+	_status = _result = -1;
+	if (!_curl || !url) {
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
@@ -151,7 +152,9 @@ HttpGet::get (const char* url)
 
 	if (!persist) {
 		free (mem.data);
-	}
+	} // otherwise caller is expected to have free()d or re-used it.
+
+	mem.data = NULL;
 	mem.size = 0;
 
 	curl_easy_setopt (_curl, CURLOPT_URL, url);
diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.h b/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.h
index cabcb3d5bc..06cf46f408 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.h
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/ardour_http.h
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class HttpGet {
 
 	std::string get (const std::string& url) {
 		char *rv = get (url.c_str ());
-		return rv ? std::string (rv) : std::string ();
+		return rv ? std::string (rv) : std::string ("");
 	}
 
 	char* data () const { return mem.data; }