diff --git a/maple-py/CLAUDE.md b/maple-py/CLAUDE.md
index 0205596..6a8d3b0 100644
--- a/maple-py/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/maple-py/CLAUDE.md
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@ is an `if TYPE_CHECKING:` block to break a circular type-only reference.
 
 "Don't swallow into None" is a general principle at every level, including call
 sites. An operation that fails must **let the exception propagate** — never catch
-it and return `None` / an empty / degraded result. BPM/beat analysis is integral:
-`_mixxx_analyze` raises rather than returning None, and every `Analysis.analyze`
-call site (in `anlz.py`, `cli.py`, `collection/core.py`) lets failures abort the
-run (including not catching around `ThreadPoolExecutor` `fut.result()`).
+it and return `None` / an empty / degraded result. BPM/beat analysis and waveform
+extraction are integral: `_mixxx_analyze` raises rather than returning None,
+`_decode_pcm` raises (`RuntimeError`) if ffmpeg is missing or fails to decode
+rather than returning an empty array, and every `Analysis.analyze` call site (in
+`anlz.py`, `cli.py`, `collection/core.py`) lets failures abort the run (including
+not catching around `ThreadPoolExecutor` `fut.result()`).
 
 Reserve `None` returns for *legitimate absence* (e.g. a cache miss in
 `Analysis.load`), never for *failure*. The one tolerated catch is a genuinely
diff --git a/maple-py/src/maple/analyze.py b/maple-py/src/maple/analyze.py
index 8cce00d..d73245e 100644
--- a/maple-py/src/maple/analyze.py
+++ b/maple-py/src/maple/analyze.py
@@ -123,11 +123,12 @@ def _project_pqtz(beatgrid: list[float], bpm: float) -> list[Beat]:
 def _decode_pcm(path: Path) -> np.ndarray:
     """Decode `path` to a 1D float32 numpy array of mono PCM at SAMPLE_RATE.
 
-    Returns an empty array on ffmpeg failure.
+    Raises `RuntimeError` if ffmpeg is missing or fails to decode — waveform
+    extraction is integral, so a failure here is fatal rather than swallowed
+    into an empty array (which would yield a waveform-less ANLZ).
     """
     if not shutil.which("ffmpeg"):
-        logger.warning("ffmpeg not on PATH; cannot extract waveform")
-        return np.empty(0, dtype=np.float32)
+        raise RuntimeError("ffmpeg not on PATH; cannot extract waveform")
     proc = subprocess.run(
         ["ffmpeg", "-nostdin", "-v", "error",
          "-i", str(path),
@@ -135,9 +136,10 @@ def _decode_pcm(path: Path) -> np.ndarray:
         capture_output=True,
     )
     if proc.returncode != 0:
-        logger.warning("ffmpeg failed for {}: {}", path.name,
-                       proc.stderr.decode("utf-8", "replace").strip())
-        return np.empty(0, dtype=np.float32)
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"ffmpeg failed for {path.name}: "
+            f"{proc.stderr.decode('utf-8', 'replace').strip()}"
+        )
     return np.frombuffer(proc.stdout, dtype=np.float32)