diff --git a/musicbrainzngs/musicbrainz.py b/musicbrainzngs/musicbrainz.py
index 2ac5ce9..b46ecdc 100644
--- a/musicbrainzngs/musicbrainz.py
+++ b/musicbrainzngs/musicbrainz.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 _version = "0.7dev"
 _log = logging.getLogger("musicbrainzngs")
+_max_retries = 8
 
 LUCENE_SPECIAL = r'([+\-&|!(){}\[\]\^"~*?:\\\/])'
 
@@ -461,7 +462,7 @@ def get_method(self):
 
 # Core (internal) functions for calling the MB API.
 
-def _safe_read(opener, req, body=None, max_retries=8, retry_delay_delta=2.0):
+def _safe_read(opener, req, body=None, max_retries=_max_retries, retry_delay_delta=2.0):
 	"""Open an HTTP request with a given URL opener and (optionally) a
 	request body. Transient errors lead to retries.  Permanent errors
 	and repeated errors are translated into a small set of handleable