diff --git a/beets/library.py b/beets/library.py
index 1c9a8f8b1..5859451d5 100644
--- a/beets/library.py
+++ b/beets/library.py
@@ -349,6 +349,9 @@ class LibModel(dbcore.Model):
     def __str__(self):
         return format(self)
 
+    def __bytes__(self):
+        return self.__str__().encode('utf-8')
+
 
 class FormattedItemMapping(dbcore.db.FormattedMapping):
     """Add lookup for album-level fields.