diff --git a/beets/importer.py b/beets/importer.py
index 3d7f9b1ac..cc81f6ddb 100644
--- a/beets/importer.py
+++ b/beets/importer.py
@@ -296,6 +296,7 @@ class ImportTask(object):
         self.items = items
         self.sentinel = False
         self.remove_duplicates = False
+        self.is_album = True
 
     @classmethod
     def done_sentinel(cls, toppath):
@@ -328,12 +329,12 @@ class ImportTask(object):
         """Sets the candidates for this album matched by the
         `autotag.tag_album` method.
         """
+        assert self.is_album
         assert not self.sentinel
         self.cur_artist = cur_artist
         self.cur_album = cur_album
         self.candidates = candidates
         self.rec = rec
-        self.is_album = True
 
     def set_null_match(self):
         """Set the candidates to indicate no album match was found.
@@ -393,7 +394,9 @@ class ImportTask(object):
         if self.sentinel or self.is_album:
             history_add(self.path)
 
+
     # Logical decisions.
+
     def should_write_tags(self):
         """Should new info be written to the files' metadata?"""
         if self.choice_flag == action.APPLY:
@@ -402,16 +405,20 @@ class ImportTask(object):
             return False
         else:
             assert False
+
     def should_fetch_art(self):
         """Should album art be downloaded for this album?"""
         return self.should_write_tags() and self.is_album
+
     def should_skip(self):
         """After a choice has been made, returns True if this is a
         sentinel or it has been marked for skipping.
         """
         return self.sentinel or self.choice_flag == action.SKIP
 
-    # Useful data.
+
+    # Convenient data.
+
     def chosen_ident(self):
         """Returns identifying metadata about the current choice. For
         albums, this is an (artist, album) pair. For items, this is
@@ -431,6 +438,16 @@ class ImportTask(object):
             elif self.choice_flag is action.APPLY:
                 return (self.info.artist, self.info.title)
 
+    def all_items(self):
+        """If this is an album task, returns the list of non-None
+        (non-gap) items. If this is a singleton task, returns a list
+        containing the item.
+        """
+        if self.is_album:
+            return [i for i in self.items if i]
+        else:
+            return [self.item]
+
 
 # Full-album pipeline stages.
 
@@ -540,6 +557,8 @@ def initial_lookup(config):
         if task.sentinel:
             continue
 
+        plugins.send('start_import_task', task=task, config=config)
+
         log.debug('Looking up: %s' % task.path)
         try:
             task.set_match(*autotag.tag_album(task.items, config.timid))
@@ -622,7 +641,7 @@ def apply_choices(config):
         if task.should_skip():
             continue
 
-        items = [i for i in task.items if i] if task.is_album else [task.item]
+        items = task.all_items()
         # Clear IDs in case the items are being re-tagged.
         for item in items:
             item.id = None
@@ -753,7 +772,7 @@ def finalize(config):
                 task.save_history()
             continue
 
-        items = [i for i in task.items if i] if task.is_album else [task.item]
+        items = task.all_items()
 
         # Announce that we've added an album.
         if task.is_album:
@@ -794,6 +813,8 @@ def item_lookup(config):
         if task.sentinel:
             continue
 
+        plugins.send('start_import_task', task=task, config=config)
+
         task.set_item_match(*autotag.tag_item(task.item, config.timid))
 
 def item_query(config):
diff --git a/beetsplug/chroma.py b/beetsplug/chroma.py
index 02cfa37e2..3a71d4727 100644
--- a/beetsplug/chroma.py
+++ b/beetsplug/chroma.py
@@ -29,22 +29,14 @@ COMMON_REL_THRESH = 0.6 # How many tracks must have an album in common?
 
 log = logging.getLogger('beets')
 
-class _cached(object):
-    """Decorator implementing memoization."""
-    def __init__(self, func):
-        self.func = func
-        self.cache = {}
+# Stores the Acoustid match information for each track. This is
+# populated when an import task begins and then used when searching for
+# candidates. It maps audio file paths to (recording_id, release_ids)
+# pairs. If a given path is not present in the mapping, then no match
+# was found.
+_matches = {}
 
-    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        cache_key = (args, tuple(sorted(kwargs.iteritems())))
-        if cache_key in self.cache:
-            return self.cache[cache_key]
-        res = self.func(*args, **kwargs)
-        self.cache[cache_key] = res
-        return res
-
-@_cached
-def acoustid_match(path, metadata=None):
+def acoustid_match(path):
     """Gets metadata for a file from Acoustid. Returns a recording ID
     and a list of release IDs if a match is found; otherwise, returns
     None.
@@ -87,10 +79,10 @@ def _all_releases(items):
     # Count the number of "hits" for each release.
     relcounts = defaultdict(int)
     for item in items:
-        aidata = acoustid_match(item.path)
-        if not aidata:
+        if item.path not in _matches:
             continue
-        _, release_ids = aidata
+
+        _, release_ids = _matches[item.path]
         for release_id in release_ids:
             relcounts[release_id] += 1
 
@@ -100,12 +92,11 @@ def _all_releases(items):
 
 class AcoustidPlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
     def track_distance(self, item, info):
-        aidata = acoustid_match(item.path)
-        if not aidata:
+        if item.path not in _matches:
             # Match failed.
             return 0.0, 0.0
 
-        recording_id, _ = aidata
+        recording_id, _ = _matches[item.path]
         if info.track_id == recording_id:
             dist = 0.0
         else:
@@ -123,10 +114,10 @@ class AcoustidPlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
         return albums
 
     def item_candidates(self, item):
-        aidata = acoustid_match(item.path)
-        if not aidata:
-            return []
-        recording_id, _ = aidata
+        if item.path not in _matches:
+            return 0.0, 0.0
+
+        recording_id, _ = _matches[item.path]
         track = hooks._track_for_id(recording_id)
         if track:
             log.debug('found acoustid item candidate')
@@ -134,3 +125,13 @@ class AcoustidPlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
         else:
             log.debug('no acoustid item candidate found')
             return []
+
+@AcoustidPlugin.listen('start_import_task')
+def fingerprint_task(config=None, task=None):
+    """Fingerprint each item in the task for later use during the
+    autotagging candidate search.
+    """
+    for item in task.all_items():
+        match = acoustid_match(item.path)
+        if match:
+            _matches[item.path] = match
diff --git a/docs/plugins/writing.rst b/docs/plugins/writing.rst
index b1790dcf9..327c7ce5e 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/writing.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/writing.rst
@@ -134,6 +134,9 @@ currently available are:
 * *write*: called with an ``Item`` and a ``MediaFile`` object just before a
   file's metadata is written to disk.
 
+* *start_import_task*: called when before an import task begins processing.
+  Parameters: ``task`` and ``config``.
+
 The included ``mpdupdate`` plugin provides an example use case for event listeners.
 
 Extend the Autotagger