diff --git a/beets/metadata_plugins.py b/beets/metadata_plugins.py
index e116d1d520..6d285fe804 100644
--- a/beets/metadata_plugins.py
+++ b/beets/metadata_plugins.py
@@ -412,6 +412,13 @@ def _search_api(
         if self.config["search_query_ascii"].get():
             query = unidecode.unidecode(query)
 
+        if not query and not filters:
+            # Items without usable metadata produce an empty search request,
+            # which APIs reject (e.g. MusicBrainz answers with a 400). Report
+            # no candidates instead of making a doomed request.
+            self._log.debug("Skipping search with empty query and filters")
+            return ()
+
         limit = self.config["search_limit"].get(int)
         params = SearchParams(query_type, query, filters, limit)
 
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index acbd3294fe..34296f95a4 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@ Bug fixes
   valid date/time string" error instead of crashing with an uncaught
   ``KeyError``. A ``|`` was being accepted as a relative-date unit due to a
   regular expression character-class typo.
+- Plugins built on ``SearchApiMetadataSourcePlugin`` (:doc:`plugins/musicbrainz`,
+  :doc:`plugins/spotify`, :doc:`plugins/deezer` and :doc:`plugins/discogs`) no
+  longer send a search request when both the query text and the filters are
+  empty, as happens for items with no artist and title tags. Such a request
+  cannot match anything and MusicBrainz rejects it with ``400 Bad Request``;
+  these searches now report no candidates instead. :bug:`6862`
 
 ..
     For plugin developers
diff --git a/test/test_metadata_plugins.py b/test/test_metadata_plugins.py
index 8f57ddbd9f..4d677989fe 100644
--- a/test/test_metadata_plugins.py
+++ b/test/test_metadata_plugins.py
@@ -127,6 +127,14 @@ def test_search_api_raises_when_raise_on_error_enabled(
         with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Search failure"):
             search_plugin._search_api("track", "query", {})
 
+    def test_search_api_skips_request_without_query_and_filters(
+        self, config, search_plugin
+    ):
+        """Empty searches are rejected by APIs, so do not send them."""
+        config["raise_on_error"] = True
+
+        assert search_plugin._search_api("track", "", {}) == ()
+
 
 def test_albums_for_ids_calls_each_plugin_once(monkeypatch):
     start_workers = Event()