diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 982d3a3..0979126 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -146,6 +146,11 @@ func Verbose(msg string) {
 	}
 }
 
+func isNil(a interface{}) bool {
+  defer func() { recover() }()
+  return a == nil || reflect.ValueOf(a).IsNil()
+}
+
 // dj variable declaration. This is done outside of main() to allow global use.
 var dj = mumbledj{
 	keepAlive:     make(chan bool),
diff --git a/service_youtube.go b/service_youtube.go
index 5f53800..0303488 100644
--- a/service_youtube.go
+++ b/service_youtube.go
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ type YouTubeSong struct {
 
 // NewYouTubeSong gathers the metadata for a song extracted from a YouTube video, and returns
 // the song.
-func NewYouTubeSong(user, id, offset string, list *YouTubePlaylist) (*YouTubeSong, error) {
+func NewYouTubeSong(user, id, offset string, playlist *YouTubePlaylist) (*YouTubeSong, error) {
 	var apiResponse *jsonq.JsonQuery
 	var err error
 	url := fmt.Sprintf("https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?part=snippet,contentDetails&id=%s&key=%s",
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ func NewYouTubeSong(user, id, offset string, list *YouTubePlaylist) (*YouTubeSon
 			duration:  durationString,
 			thumbnail: thumbnail,
 			skippers:  make([]string, 0),
-			playlist:  &list,
+			playlist:  playlist,
 			dontSkip:  false,
 		}
 		dj.queue.AddSong(song)
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ func (s *YouTubeSong) Play() {
 	if err := dj.audioStream.Play(); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	} else {
-		if s.Playlist() == nil {
+		if s.Playlist() == &nil {
 			message := `
 				<table>
 					<tr>
diff --git a/songqueue.go b/songqueue.go
index 5cf9e8d..67db542 100644
--- a/songqueue.go
+++ b/songqueue.go
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ func (q *SongQueue) CurrentSong() Song {
 // NextSong moves to the next Song in SongQueue. NextSong() removes the first Song in the queue.
 func (q *SongQueue) NextSong() {
 	if s, err := q.PeekNext(); err == nil {
-		if (q.CurrentSong().Playlist() != nil) && (s.Playlist() != nil) {
+		if !isNil(q.CurrentSong().Playlist()) && !isNil(s.Playlist()) {
 			if q.CurrentSong().Playlist().ID() != s.Playlist().ID() {
 				q.CurrentSong().Playlist().DeleteSkippers()
 			}