diff --git a/headphones/importer.py b/headphones/importer.py
index 447ff908..001786fe 100644
--- a/headphones/importer.py
+++ b/headphones/importer.py
@@ -49,6 +49,16 @@ def artistlist_to_mbids(artistlist, forced=False):
         if not artist and not (artist == ' '):
             continue
             
+
+        # If adding artists through Manage New Artists, there coming through as non-unicode (utf-8?)
+        # and screwing everything up
+        if not isinstance(artist, unicode):
+            try:
+                artist = artist.decode('utf-8', 'replace')
+            except:
+                logger.warn("Unable to convert artist to unicode so cannot do a database lookup")
+                continue
+            
         results = mb.findArtist(artist, limit=1)
         
         if not results:
diff --git a/headphones/mb.py b/headphones/mb.py
index 84c21ec5..5a20e0ad 100644
--- a/headphones/mb.py
+++ b/headphones/mb.py
@@ -407,17 +407,6 @@ def getTracksFromRelease(release):
 # Used when there is a disambiguation
 def findArtistbyAlbum(name):
 
-    # Somehow non unicode is getting passed into this function?
-    if not isinstance(name, unicode):
-        try:
-            name = name.decode('latin-1', 'replace')
-        except:
-            try:
-                name = name.decode(headphones.SYS_ENCODING, 'replace')
-            except:
-                logger.warn("Unable to convert artist to unicode so cannot do a database lookup")
-                return False
-
     myDB = db.DBConnection()
     
     artist = myDB.action('SELECT AlbumTitle from have WHERE ArtistName=? AND AlbumTitle IS NOT NULL ORDER BY RANDOM()', [name]).fetchone()