diff --git a/lbrynet/__init__.py b/lbrynet/__init__.py
index 6b754d3a2..9a7032852 100644
--- a/lbrynet/__init__.py
+++ b/lbrynet/__init__.py
@@ -1,8 +1,2 @@
-import logging
-
-log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-logging.getLogger(__name__).addHandler(logging.NullHandler())
-log.setLevel(logging.INFO)
-
 __version__ = "0.3.17"
 version = tuple(__version__.split('.'))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lbrynet/core/log_support.py b/lbrynet/core/log_support.py
index 50fb35e83..1e5371884 100644
--- a/lbrynet/core/log_support.py
+++ b/lbrynet/core/log_support.py
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ def _log_decorator(fn):
     def helper(*args, **kwargs):
         log = kwargs.pop('log', logging.getLogger())
         level = kwargs.pop('level', logging.INFO)
+        if not isinstance(level, int):
+            # despite the name, getLevelName returns
+            # the numeric level when passed a text level
+            level = logging.getLevelName(level)
         handler = fn(*args, **kwargs)
         if handler.name:
             remove_handlers(log, handler.name)