diff --git a/beets/dbcore/query.py b/beets/dbcore/query.py
index caf380260..8e2075f37 100644
--- a/beets/dbcore/query.py
+++ b/beets/dbcore/query.py
@@ -246,9 +246,7 @@ 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, basestring):
-            # Implicitly coerce Unicode strings to their bytes
-            # equivalents.
+        if isinstance(self.pattern, (unicode, bytes)):
             if isinstance(self.pattern, unicode):
                 self.pattern = self.pattern.encode('utf8')
             self.buf_pattern = buffer(self.pattern)