diff --git a/compressor/base.py b/compressor/base.py
index 7919e67..2d1e962 100644
--- a/compressor/base.py
+++ b/compressor/base.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from compressor.conf import settings
 from compressor.exceptions import (CompressorError, UncompressableFileError,
         FilterDoesNotExist)
 from compressor.filters import CompilerFilter
-from compressor.storage import default_storage, compressor_file_storage
+from compressor.storage import compressor_file_storage
 from compressor.signals import post_compress
 from compressor.utils import get_class, get_mod_func, staticfiles
 from compressor.utils.decorators import cached_property
@@ -40,12 +40,17 @@ class Compressor(object):
         self.output_prefix = output_prefix or "compressed"
         self.output_dir = settings.COMPRESS_OUTPUT_DIR.strip('/')
         self.charset = settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET
-        self.storage = default_storage
         self.split_content = []
         self.context = context or {}
         self.extra_context = {}
         self.all_mimetypes = dict(settings.COMPRESS_PRECOMPILERS)
         self.finders = staticfiles.finders
+        self._storage = None
+
+    @cached_property
+    def storage(self):
+        from compressor.storage import default_storage
+        return default_storage
 
     def split_contents(self):
         """
diff --git a/compressor/tests/test_storages.py b/compressor/tests/test_storages.py
index ac1bfa8..bb9251c 100644
--- a/compressor/tests/test_storages.py
+++ b/compressor/tests/test_storages.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from django.core.files.base import ContentFile
 from django.core.files.storage import get_storage_class
 from django.test import TestCase
 
-from compressor import base
+from compressor import storage
 from compressor.conf import settings
 from compressor.tests.test_base import css_tag
 from compressor.tests.test_templatetags import render
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ class StorageTestCase(TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.old_enabled = settings.COMPRESS_ENABLED
         settings.COMPRESS_ENABLED = True
-        self.default_storage = base.default_storage
-        base.default_storage = get_storage_class(
+        self.default_storage = storage.default_storage
+        storage.default_storage = get_storage_class(
             'compressor.storage.GzipCompressorFileStorage')()
 
     def tearDown(self):
-        base.default_storage = self.default_storage
+        storage.default_storage = self.default_storage
         settings.COMPRESS_ENABLED = self.old_enabled
 
     def test_css_tag_with_storage(self):
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 95e8031..9c21c3b 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ envlist =
     py26-1.4.X
 
 [testenv]
+whitelist_externals = make
 downloadcache = {toxworkdir}/_download/
 commands =
     django-admin.py --version