diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 70167605..a6a329ba 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ AS_IF([test "x$ac_cv_member_struct_dirent_d_ino" != "xyes"],
 
 
 # we need these
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS([memset memcpy realpath setlocale strerror getpass])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([memset memcpy realpath setlocale strerror getpass setsid])
 AC_CHECK_FUNC(timegm,[],[AC_MSG_ERROR([missing required function timegm])])
 
 # require pkg-config
diff --git a/lib/mu-util.c b/lib/mu-util.c
index 37d0e936..367ad78d 100644
--- a/lib/mu-util.c
+++ b/lib/mu-util.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* -*-mode: c; tab-width: 8; indent-tabs-mode: t; c-basic-offset: 8 -*-*/
 /*
 **
-** Copyright (C) 2008-2013 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
+** Copyright (C) 2008-2016 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 ** it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -330,6 +330,17 @@ mu_util_program_in_path (const char *prog)
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * Set the child to a group leader to avoid being killed when the
+ * parent group is killed.
+ */
+static void
+maybe_setsid (G_GNUC_UNUSED gpointer user_data)
+{
+#if HAVE_SETSID
+	setsid();
+#endif /*HAVE_SETSID*/
+}
 
 gboolean
 mu_util_play (const char *path, gboolean allow_local, gboolean allow_remote,
@@ -366,8 +377,8 @@ mu_util_play (const char *path, gboolean allow_local, gboolean allow_remote,
 
 	err = NULL;
 	rv = g_spawn_async (NULL, (gchar**)&argv, NULL,
-			    G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH, NULL, NULL, NULL,
-			    err);
+			    G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH, maybe_setsid,
+			    NULL, NULL, err);
 	return rv;
 }