diff --git a/app/models/application_record.rb b/app/models/application_record.rb
index 24ec27a76..ee9fa44a0 100644
--- a/app/models/application_record.rb
+++ b/app/models/application_record.rb
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
 
     # XXX deprecated, shouldn't expose this as an instance method.
     def api_attributes(user: CurrentUser.user)
-      Pundit.policy!([user, nil], self).api_attributes
+      policy = Pundit.policy([user, nil], self) || ApplicationPolicy.new([user, nil], self)
+      policy.api_attributes
     end
 
     def html_data_attributes
diff --git a/test/functional/artist_urls_controller_test.rb b/test/functional/artist_urls_controller_test.rb
index dc009fb79..8a0f15707 100644
--- a/test/functional/artist_urls_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/artist_urls_controller_test.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ class ArtistUrlsControllerTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
         assert_response :success
       end
 
+      should "render for a json request" do
+        get artist_urls_path, as: :json
+        assert_response :success
+      end
+
       should "render for a complex search" do
         @artist = FactoryBot.create(:artist, name: "bkub", url_string: "-http://bkub.com")