diff --git a/beets/dbcore/db.py b/beets/dbcore/db.py
index a3909cf141..6621b55d36 100755
--- a/beets/dbcore/db.py
+++ b/beets/dbcore/db.py
@@ -923,6 +923,11 @@ class Database:
     """
 
     def __init__(self, path, timeout=5.0):
+        if sqlite3.threadsafety == 0:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "sqlite3 must be compiled with multi-threading support"
+            )
+
         self.path = path
         self.timeout = timeout