diff --git a/beets/dbcore/query.py b/beets/dbcore/query.py
index 32062a1e9..74f6cb903 100644
--- a/beets/dbcore/query.py
+++ b/beets/dbcore/query.py
@@ -151,7 +151,11 @@ class BytesQuery(MatchQuery):
         # Use a buffer representation of the pattern for SQLite
         # matching. This instructs SQLite to treat the blob as binary
         # rather than encoded Unicode.
-        if isinstance(self.pattern, bytes):
+        if isinstance(self.pattern, basestring):
+            # Implicitly coerce Unicode strings to their bytes
+            # equivalents.
+            if isinstance(self.pattern, unicode):
+                self.pattern = self.pattern.encode('utf8')
             self.buf_pattern = buffer(self.pattern)
         elif isinstance(self.pattern, buffer):
             self.buf_pattern = self.pattern