diff --git a/pandora/item/models.py b/pandora/item/models.py
index f6d992c0a..be7f3303b 100644
--- a/pandora/item/models.py
+++ b/pandora/item/models.py
@@ -1559,6 +1559,8 @@ class Item(models.Model):
         return icon
 
     def add_empty_clips(self):
+        if not settings.EMPTY_CLIPS:
+            return
         subtitles = utils.get_by_key(settings.CONFIG['layers'], 'isSubtitles', True)
         if not subtitles:
             return
diff --git a/pandora/settings.py b/pandora/settings.py
index f47379e5e..7268c31c9 100644
--- a/pandora/settings.py
+++ b/pandora/settings.py
@@ -289,6 +289,8 @@ SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https')
 
 DATA_UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE = 32 * 1024 * 1024
 
+EMPTY_CLIPS = True
+
 #you can ignore things below this line
 #=========================================================================
 LOCAL_APPS = []