Example of the use of a ListView with associated empty View.

activity_list.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
	xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
	android:layout_width="match_parent"
	android:layout_height="match_parent"
	android:orientation="vertical"
	tools:context=".MainActivity"
	>
	<Button
		android:id="@+id/button"
		android:layout_width="wrap_content"
		android:layout_height="wrap_content"
		android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
		android:text="@string/refresh"
		/>
	<FrameLayout
		android:layout_width="match_parent"
		android:layout_height="0dp"
		android:layout_weight="1"
		>
		<ListView
			android:id="@android:id/list"
			android:layout_width="match_parent"
			android:layout_height="match_parent"
			/>
		<TextView
			android:id="@android:id/empty"
			android:layout_width="wrap_content"
			android:layout_height="wrap_content"
			android:layout_gravity="center"
			android:textAppearance="?android:textAppearanceMedium"
			android:text="@string/empty"
			/>
	</FrameLayout>
</LinearLayout>

strings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
	<string name="empty">Empty</string>
	<string name="refresh">Refresh</string>
</resources>

TestActivity.java

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Random;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;


public class TestActivity extends ListActivity
{
	public static Intent createIntent(Context context)
	{
		return new Intent(context, TestActivity.class);
	}
	
	@Override
	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
	{
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.activity_list);
		findViewById(R.id.button).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
		{
			@Override
			public void onClick(View v)
			{
				refreshAlbumList();
			}
		});
		refreshAlbumList();
	}
	
	public void refreshAlbumList()
	{
		setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, getAlbumList()));
	}
	
	private ArrayList<String> getAlbumList()
	{
		ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
		if(new Random().nextBoolean()){
			list.ensureCapacity(100);
			for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++){
				list.add("Album Name " + (i + 1));
			}
		}
		return list;
	}
}

I would have expected to see a call to setEmptyView() to really showcase how this works. But maybe ListActivity is able to automatically detect that there is a view with the special android empty id and does it for you. Is that the case?

@HologramOfMe I really agree with you