diff --git a/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py b/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py
index ea0537988..2d502e076 100644
--- a/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py
+++ b/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import pylast
 import os
 import yaml
 
+from unidecode import unidecode
+
 from beets import plugins
 from beets import ui
 from beets.util import normpath, plurality
@@ -133,6 +135,7 @@ class LastGenrePlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
             'force': True,
             'auto': True,
             'separator': u', ',
+            'asciify': False,
         })
 
         self.setup()
@@ -244,6 +247,9 @@ class LastGenrePlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
         if any(not s for s in args):
             return None
 
+        if self.config['asciify']:
+            args = [unidecode(arg) for arg in args]
+
         key = u'{0}.{1}'.format(entity, u'-'.join(unicode(a) for a in args))
         if key in self._genre_cache:
             return self._genre_cache[key]
diff --git a/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst b/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst
index 9d3242467..d874a4a72 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst
@@ -108,6 +108,9 @@ configuration file. The available options are:
 - **whitelist**: The filename of a custom genre list, ``yes`` to use
   the internal whitelist, or ``no`` to consider all genres valid.
   Default: ``yes``.
+- **asciify**: Convert all non-ASCII characters to ASCII equivalents
+  when performing lookups.
+  Default: ``no``.
 
 Running Manually
 ----------------