diff --git a/beets/util/__init__.py b/beets/util/__init__.py
index 49fac8fbd..0d5a70e72 100644
--- a/beets/util/__init__.py
+++ b/beets/util/__init__.py
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
 
 """Miscellaneous utility functions."""
 
-from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+from __future__ import (division, absolute_import, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
 
 import os
 import sys
@@ -315,13 +316,13 @@ def bytestring_path(path):
     path (ensuring that we never deal with Unicode pathnames).
     """
     # Pass through bytestrings.
-    if isinstance(path, str):
+    if isinstance(path, bytes):
         return path
 
     # On Windows, remove the magic prefix added by `syspath`. This makes
     # ``bytestring_path(syspath(X)) == X``, i.e., we can safely
     # round-trip through `syspath`.
-    if os.path.__name__ == 'ntpath' and path.startswith(WINDOWS_MAGIC_PREFIX):
+    if os.path.__name__ == b'ntpath' and path.startswith(WINDOWS_MAGIC_PREFIX):
         path = path[len(WINDOWS_MAGIC_PREFIX):]
 
     # Try to encode with default encodings, but fall back to UTF8.
@@ -340,7 +341,7 @@ def displayable_path(path, separator=u'; '):
         return separator.join(displayable_path(p) for p in path)
     elif isinstance(path, unicode):
         return path
-    elif not isinstance(path, str):
+    elif not isinstance(path, bytes):
         # A non-string object: just get its unicode representation.
         return unicode(path)
 
@@ -358,7 +359,7 @@ def syspath(path, prefix=True):
     *really* know what you're doing.
     """
     # Don't do anything if we're not on windows
-    if os.path.__name__ != 'ntpath':
+    if os.path.__name__ != b'ntpath':
         return path
 
     if not isinstance(path, unicode):
@@ -496,12 +497,12 @@ def unique_path(path):
 # shares, which are sufficiently common as to cause frequent problems.
 # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247.aspx
 CHAR_REPLACE = [
-    (re.compile(ur'[\\/]'), u'_'),  # / and \ -- forbidden everywhere.
-    (re.compile(ur'^\.'), u'_'),  # Leading dot (hidden files on Unix).
-    (re.compile(ur'[\x00-\x1f]'), u''),  # Control characters.
-    (re.compile(ur'[<>:"\?\*\|]'), u'_'),  # Windows "reserved characters".
-    (re.compile(ur'\.$'), u'_'),  # Trailing dots.
-    (re.compile(ur'\s+$'), u''),  # Trailing whitespace.
+    (re.compile(r'[\\/]'), u'_'),  # / and \ -- forbidden everywhere.
+    (re.compile(r'^\.'), u'_'),  # Leading dot (hidden files on Unix).
+    (re.compile(r'[\x00-\x1f]'), u''),  # Control characters.
+    (re.compile(r'[<>:"\?\*\|]'), u'_'),  # Windows "reserved characters".
+    (re.compile(r'\.$'), u'_'),  # Trailing dots.
+    (re.compile(r'\s+$'), u''),  # Trailing whitespace.
 ]
 
 
@@ -555,8 +556,8 @@ def as_string(value):
     if value is None:
         return u''
     elif isinstance(value, buffer):
-        return str(value).decode('utf8', 'ignore')
-    elif isinstance(value, str):
+        return bytes(value).decode('utf8', 'ignore')
+    elif isinstance(value, bytes):
         return value.decode('utf8', 'ignore')
     else:
         return unicode(value)
@@ -615,19 +616,19 @@ def cpu_count():
     """
     # Adapted from the soundconverter project:
     # https://github.com/kassoulet/soundconverter
-    if sys.platform == 'win32':
+    if sys.platform == b'win32':
         try:
             num = int(os.environ['NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS'])
         except (ValueError, KeyError):
             num = 0
-    elif sys.platform == 'darwin':
+    elif sys.platform == b'darwin':
         try:
             num = int(command_output(['sysctl', '-n', 'hw.ncpu']))
         except ValueError:
             num = 0
     else:
         try:
-            num = os.sysconf('SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN')
+            num = os.sysconf(b'SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN')
         except (ValueError, OSError, AttributeError):
             num = 0
     if num >= 1:
@@ -655,7 +656,7 @@ def command_output(cmd, shell=False):
         cmd,
         stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
         stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
-        close_fds=platform.system() != 'Windows',
+        close_fds=platform.system() != b'Windows',
         shell=shell
     )
     stdout, stderr = proc.communicate()
@@ -674,7 +675,7 @@ def max_filename_length(path, limit=MAX_FILENAME_LENGTH):
     misreports its capacity). If it cannot be determined (e.g., on
     Windows), return `limit`.
     """
-    if hasattr(os, 'statvfs'):
+    if hasattr(os, b'statvfs'):
         try:
             res = os.statvfs(path)
         except OSError:
diff --git a/beets/util/artresizer.py b/beets/util/artresizer.py
index aef5eb3ed..d47a30a1c 100644
--- a/beets/util/artresizer.py
+++ b/beets/util/artresizer.py
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
 """Abstraction layer to resize images using PIL, ImageMagick, or a
 public resizing proxy if neither is available.
 """
-from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+from __future__ import (division, absolute_import, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
 
 import urllib
 import subprocess
diff --git a/beets/util/bluelet.py b/beets/util/bluelet.py
index ae8ab541c..6dcd92a1b 100644
--- a/beets/util/bluelet.py
+++ b/beets/util/bluelet.py
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ asyncore.
 
 Bluelet: easy concurrency without all the messy parallelism.
 """
-from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+from __future__ import (division, absolute_import, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
 
 import socket
 import select
diff --git a/beets/util/enumeration.py b/beets/util/enumeration.py
index c25332afb..dc0a6fa42 100644
--- a/beets/util/enumeration.py
+++ b/beets/util/enumeration.py
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
 # The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
 # included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 
-from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+from __future__ import (division, absolute_import, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
 
 from enum import Enum
 
diff --git a/beets/util/functemplate.py b/beets/util/functemplate.py
index 1bc984ba2..180f46733 100644
--- a/beets/util/functemplate.py
+++ b/beets/util/functemplate.py
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ This is sort of like a tiny, horrible degeneration of a real templating
 engine like Jinja2 or Mustache.
 """
 
-from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+from __future__ import (division, absolute_import, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
 
 import re
 import ast
@@ -40,8 +41,8 @@ GROUP_CLOSE = u'}'
 ARG_SEP = u','
 ESCAPE_CHAR = u'$'
 
-VARIABLE_PREFIX = '__var_'
-FUNCTION_PREFIX = '__func_'
+VARIABLE_PREFIX = b'__var_'
+FUNCTION_PREFIX = b'__func_'
 
 
 class Environment(object):
@@ -70,11 +71,11 @@ def ex_literal(val):
     value.
     """
     if val is None:
-        return ast.Name('None', ast.Load())
+        return ast.Name(b'None', ast.Load())
     elif isinstance(val, (int, float, long)):
         return ast.Num(val)
     elif isinstance(val, bool):
-        return ast.Name(str(val), ast.Load())
+        return ast.Name(bytes(val), ast.Load())
     elif isinstance(val, basestring):
         return ast.Str(val)
     raise TypeError('no literal for {0}'.format(type(val)))
@@ -111,9 +112,9 @@ def compile_func(arg_names, statements, name='_the_func', debug=False):
     bytecode of the compiled function.
     """
     func_def = ast.FunctionDef(
-        name,
+        name.encode('utf8'),
         ast.arguments(
-            [ast.Name(n, ast.Param()) for n in arg_names],
+            [ast.Name(n.encode('utf8'), ast.Param()) for n in arg_names],
             None, None,
             [ex_literal(None) for _ in arg_names],
         ),
@@ -123,7 +124,11 @@ def compile_func(arg_names, statements, name='_the_func', debug=False):
     mod = ast.Module([func_def])
     ast.fix_missing_locations(mod)
 
-    prog = compile(mod, '<generated>', 'exec')
+    try:
+        prog = compile(mod, '<generated>', 'exec')
+    except:
+        print(ast.dump(mod))
+        raise
 
     # Debug: show bytecode.
     if debug:
@@ -206,11 +211,11 @@ class Call(object):
             # Create a subexpression that joins the result components of
             # the arguments.
             arg_exprs.append(ex_call(
-                ast.Attribute(ex_literal(u''), 'join', ast.Load()),
+                ast.Attribute(ex_literal(u''), b'join', ast.Load()),
                 [ex_call(
-                    'map',
+                    b'map',
                     [
-                        ex_rvalue('unicode'),
+                        ex_rvalue(b'unicode'),
                         ast.List(subexprs, ast.Load()),
                     ]
                 )],
@@ -290,7 +295,7 @@ class Parser(object):
     # Common parsing resources.
     special_chars = (SYMBOL_DELIM, FUNC_DELIM, GROUP_OPEN, GROUP_CLOSE,
                      ARG_SEP, ESCAPE_CHAR)
-    special_char_re = re.compile(ur'[%s]|$' %
+    special_char_re = re.compile(r'[%s]|$' %
                                  u''.join(re.escape(c) for c in special_chars))
 
     def parse_expression(self):
@@ -478,7 +483,7 @@ class Parser(object):
         Updates ``pos``.
         """
         remainder = self.string[self.pos:]
-        ident = re.match(ur'\w*', remainder).group(0)
+        ident = re.match(r'\w*', remainder).group(0)
         self.pos += len(ident)
         return ident
 
@@ -533,9 +538,9 @@ class Template(object):
 
         argnames = []
         for varname in varnames:
-            argnames.append(VARIABLE_PREFIX.encode('utf8') + varname)
+            argnames.append(VARIABLE_PREFIX + varname)
         for funcname in funcnames:
-            argnames.append(FUNCTION_PREFIX.encode('utf8') + funcname)
+            argnames.append(FUNCTION_PREFIX + funcname)
 
         func = compile_func(
             argnames,
diff --git a/beets/util/pipeline.py b/beets/util/pipeline.py
index 4f6dcd410..7387a8200 100644
--- a/beets/util/pipeline.py
+++ b/beets/util/pipeline.py
@@ -31,14 +31,15 @@ To do so, pass an iterable of coroutines to the Pipeline constructor
 in place of any single coroutine.
 """
 
-from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+from __future__ import (division, absolute_import, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
 
 import Queue
 from threading import Thread, Lock
 import sys
 
-BUBBLE = '__PIPELINE_BUBBLE__'
-POISON = '__PIPELINE_POISON__'
+BUBBLE = b'__PIPELINE_BUBBLE__'
+POISON = b'__PIPELINE_POISON__'
 
 DEFAULT_QUEUE_SIZE = 16