diff --git a/beetsplug/discogs.py b/beetsplug/discogs.py
index 904220685..80b7ae3df 100644
--- a/beetsplug/discogs.py
+++ b/beetsplug/discogs.py
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ import os
 urllib3_logger = logging.getLogger('requests.packages.urllib3')
 urllib3_logger.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)
 
-USER_AGENT = 'beets/{0} +http://beets.radbox.org/'.format(beets.__version__) \
-    .encode('utf8')
+USER_AGENT = u'beets/{0} +http://beets.radbox.org/'.format(beets.__version__)
 
 # Exceptions that discogs_client should really handle but does not.
 CONNECTION_ERRORS = (ConnectionError, socket.error, httplib.HTTPException,
@@ -66,8 +65,8 @@ class DiscogsPlugin(BeetsPlugin):
     def setup(self, session=None):
         """Create the `discogs_client` field. Authenticate if necessary.
         """
-        c_key = self.config['apikey'].get(unicode).encode('utf8')
-        c_secret = self.config['apisecret'].get(unicode).encode('utf8')
+        c_key = self.config['apikey'].get(unicode)
+        c_secret = self.config['apisecret'].get(unicode)
 
         # Get the OAuth token from a file or log in.
         try:
@@ -77,8 +76,8 @@ class DiscogsPlugin(BeetsPlugin):
             # No token yet. Generate one.
             token, secret = self.authenticate(c_key, c_secret)
         else:
-            token = tokendata['token'].encode('utf8')
-            secret = tokendata['secret'].encode('utf8')
+            token = tokendata['token']
+            secret = tokendata['secret']
 
         self.discogs_client = Client(USER_AGENT, c_key, c_secret,
                                      token, secret)
@@ -121,7 +120,7 @@ class DiscogsPlugin(BeetsPlugin):
         with open(self._tokenfile(), 'w') as f:
             json.dump({'token': token, 'secret': secret}, f)
 
-        return token.encode('utf8'), secret.encode('utf8')
+        return token, secret
 
     def album_distance(self, items, album_info, mapping):
         """Returns the album distance.