diff --git a/mopidy/audio/utils.py b/mopidy/audio/utils.py
index a4333b5a..bc527df7 100644
--- a/mopidy/audio/utils.py
+++ b/mopidy/audio/utils.py
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ def convert_taglist(taglist):
                     logger.debug('Ignoring invalid date: %r = %r', key, value)
             elif isinstance(value, gst.Buffer):
                 result[key].append(bytes(value))
-            elif isinstance(value, (basestring, bool, numbers.Number)):
+            elif isinstance(
+                    value, (compat.string_types, bool, numbers.Number)):
                 result[key].append(value)
             else:
                 logger.debug('Ignoring unknown data: %r = %r', key, value)
diff --git a/mopidy/core/library.py b/mopidy/core/library.py
index 556f0a30..41346b2d 100644
--- a/mopidy/core/library.py
+++ b/mopidy/core/library.py
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ def _normalize_query(query):
     broken_client = False
     # TODO: this breaks if query is not a dictionary like object...
     for (field, values) in query.items():
-        if isinstance(values, basestring):
+        if isinstance(values, compat.string_types):
             broken_client = True
             query[field] = [values]
     if broken_client:
diff --git a/mopidy/internal/deprecation.py b/mopidy/internal/deprecation.py
index 7b1b915e..776a10a4 100644
--- a/mopidy/internal/deprecation.py
+++ b/mopidy/internal/deprecation.py
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ import contextlib
 import re
 import warnings
 
+from mopidy import compat
+
+
 # Messages used in deprecation warnings are collected here so we can target
 # them easily when ignoring warnings.
 _MESSAGES = {
@@ -74,7 +77,7 @@ def warn(msg_id, pending=False):
 @contextlib.contextmanager
 def ignore(ids=None):
     with warnings.catch_warnings():
-        if isinstance(ids, basestring):
+        if isinstance(ids, compat.string_types):
             ids = [ids]
 
         if ids:
diff --git a/mopidy/models/__init__.py b/mopidy/models/__init__.py
index 7afa2db8..9f93a01b 100644
--- a/mopidy/models/__init__.py
+++ b/mopidy/models/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
+from mopidy import compat
 from mopidy.models import fields
 from mopidy.models.immutable import ImmutableObject, ValidatedImmutableObject
 from mopidy.models.serialize import ModelJSONEncoder, model_json_decoder
@@ -169,7 +170,7 @@ class Album(ValidatedImmutableObject):
     musicbrainz_id = fields.Identifier()
 
     #: The album image URIs. Read-only.
-    images = fields.Collection(type=basestring, container=frozenset)
+    images = fields.Collection(type=compat.string_types, container=frozenset)
     # XXX If we want to keep the order of images we shouldn't use frozenset()
     # as it doesn't preserve order. I'm deferring this issue until we got
     # actual usage of this field with more than one image.
diff --git a/mopidy/models/fields.py b/mopidy/models/fields.py
index 1f3935b4..2cc6e512 100644
--- a/mopidy/models/fields.py
+++ b/mopidy/models/fields.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
+from mopidy import compat
+
 
 class Field(object):
 
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ class String(Field):
         # TODO: normalize to unicode?
         # TODO: only allow unicode?
         # TODO: disallow empty strings?
-        super(String, self).__init__(type=basestring, default=default)
+        super(String, self).__init__(type=compat.string_types, default=default)
 
 
 class Date(String):
@@ -144,7 +146,7 @@ class Collection(Field):
         super(Collection, self).__init__(type=type, default=container())
 
     def validate(self, value):
-        if isinstance(value, basestring):
+        if isinstance(value, compat.string_types):
             raise TypeError('Expected %s to be a collection of %s, not %r'
                             % (self._name, self._type.__name__, value))
         for v in value:
diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
index c76c48f0..5e18c9dd 100644
--- a/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/__init__.py
@@ -33,5 +33,5 @@ class IsA(object):
 
 
 any_int = IsA((int, long))
-any_str = IsA(str)
+any_str = IsA(compat.string_types)
 any_unicode = IsA(compat.text_type)