diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 5edffc259..df5852b90 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 1.0b10
 ------
 * Fix a missing __future__ import in embedart on Python 2.5.
+* Fix Unicode encoding of album artist, album type, and label.
 
 1.0b9
 -----
diff --git a/beets/mediafile.py b/beets/mediafile.py
index eb7aeab12..b31b638a1 100644
--- a/beets/mediafile.py
+++ b/beets/mediafile.py
@@ -790,24 +790,20 @@ class MediaFile(object):
     albumartist = MediaField(
                 mp3 = StorageStyle('TXXX', id3_desc=u'Album Artist'),
                 mp4 = StorageStyle(
-                    '----:com.apple.iTunes:Album Artist',
-                    as_type=str),
+                    '----:com.apple.iTunes:Album Artist'),
                 etc = [StorageStyle('album artist'),
                        StorageStyle('albumartist')]
             )
     albumtype = MediaField(
                 mp3 = StorageStyle('TXXX', id3_desc=u'MusicBrainz Album Type'),
                 mp4 = StorageStyle(
-                    '----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Type',
-                    as_type=str),
+                    '----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Type'),
                 etc = StorageStyle('musicbrainz_albumtype')
             )
     label = MediaField(
                 mp3 = StorageStyle('TPUB'),
-                mp4 = [StorageStyle('----:com.apple.iTunes:Label',
-                                    as_type=str),
-                       StorageStyle('----:com.apple.iTunes:publisher', # Traktor
-                                    as_type=str)],
+                mp4 = [StorageStyle('----:com.apple.iTunes:Label'),
+                       StorageStyle('----:com.apple.iTunes:publisher')],
                 etc = [StorageStyle('label'),
                        StorageStyle('publisher')] # Traktor
             )