diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/melonvod.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/melonvod.py
index 9b00ce8e3..2c80b3ba8 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/melonvod.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/melonvod.py
@@ -2,18 +2,20 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 from .common import InfoExtractor
-from ..utils import int_or_none
+from ..utils import (
+    int_or_none,
+    urljoin,
+)
 
 
 class MelonVODIE(InfoExtractor):
-    _VALID_URL = r'https?://vod\.melon\.com/video/detail2\.html?.*mvId=(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
+    _VALID_URL = r'https?://vod\.melon\.com/video/detail2\.html?\?.*?mvId=(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
     _TEST = {
         'url': 'http://vod.melon.com/video/detail2.htm?mvId=50158734',
-        'md5': '461fc04c6d23cbf49f4fef4d61851d32',
         'info_dict': {
             'id': '50158734',
             'ext': 'mp4',
-            'title': 'Jessica \'Wonderland\' MV Making Film',
+            'title': "Jessica 'Wonderland' MV Making Film",
             'thumbnail': 're:^https?://.*\.jpg$',
             'artist': 'Jessica (제시카)',
             'upload_date': '20161212',
@@ -29,24 +31,35 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 
         play_info = self._download_json(
             'http://vod.melon.com/video/playerInfo.json', video_id,
-            note='Downloading playerInfo', query={'mvId': video_id}
-        )
+            note='Downloading player info JSON', query={'mvId': video_id})
+
         title = play_info['mvInfo']['MVTITLE']
-        artist = ', '.join([artist['ARTISTNAMEWEBLIST'] for artist in play_info.get('artistList', [])])
 
         info = self._download_json(
             'http://vod.melon.com/delivery/streamingInfo.json', video_id,
-            note='Downloading streamingInfo',
-            query={'contsId': video_id, 'contsType': 'VIDEO'}
-        )
-        stream_info = info.get('streamingInfo', {})
-        m3u8_url = stream_info.get('encUrl')
-        formats = self._extract_m3u8_formats(m3u8_url, video_id, 'mp4', m3u8_id='hls')
+            note='Downloading streaming info JSON',
+            query={
+                'contsId': video_id,
+                'contsType': 'VIDEO',
+            })
+
+        stream_info = info['streamingInfo']
+
+        formats = self._extract_m3u8_formats(
+            stream_info['encUrl'], video_id, 'mp4', m3u8_id='hls')
         self._sort_formats(formats)
 
-        thumbnail = info.get('staticDomain', '') + stream_info.get('imgPath', '')
+        artist_list = play_info.get('artistList')
+        artist = None
+        if isinstance(artist_list, list):
+            artist = ', '.join(
+                [a['ARTISTNAMEWEBLIST']
+                 for a in artist_list if a.get('ARTISTNAMEWEBLIST')])
+
+        thumbnail = urljoin(info.get('staticDomain'), stream_info.get('imgPath'))
+
         duration = int_or_none(stream_info.get('playTime'))
-        upload_date = stream_info.get('mvSvcOpenDt', '')[:8]
+        upload_date = stream_info.get('mvSvcOpenDt', '')[:8] or None
 
         return {
             'id': video_id,