Video ads way too loud

[cons7]

Listening to my music at a reasonable volume and then all of a sudden a video ad will come blaring on, seemingly at least twice as loud as my actual music volume. Loud enough to ****ing literally hurt my ears. This needs to fixed immediately. This latest update is just a mess. The lead developer and anyone who OK'd the update should be fired. The update should be rolled back until someone competent, and who also values user experience, is put in charge.

[wdautrem]

I am uninstalling as well.  This makes Spotify unusable at work.

[Bone75]

If you're still having the problem and Spotify isn't responsive at @spotifycares, use EZBlocker. It works perfectly and just runs in your system tray. I even told Spotify that I was more than happy to listen to ads fro the service (perfectly fair trade), but since they don't really seem to be listening, I'd just have to block them. Here's the link to EZBlocker (no, I'm nto a paid spokesman or anything)

http://www.ericzhang.me/projects/spotify-ad-blocker-ezblocker/

[Mummbles]

I bloody near had my eardrums blown out by the insane volume of a video add suddenly being blasted at me. WHAT THE HELL SPOTIFY! 

Where shall I send my medical bills to when I rupture my eardrum?

[SofiFoxi]

Agree this is super loud.  Ouch!!!

It happens on the ads that pop up with a large picture or video.

[AdrianPaul]

Yes. We should take out a Class Action against them. This issue has been reported by thousands of people for months now
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[user-removed]

Hello:

Everyone, I have played around with this odd thing with ads being too loud some. Depending on your sound output setup coming out of your P.C.s this might not work for everyone. If you are sending the PC sound card to an external sound source like a PC speaker system that has it's own external speaker amp system, and/or to a DAC for headphone use, and/or a Home Theater Amp system. First go to the WIndows Speaker Icon in the system notification tray, click it to open so you can turn the overall volume down, and make sure to pull the slider volume down to at least 50%. I have noticed when I pushed the overall sound card Volume slider up beyond 50% the ads playback was way too loud in sound volume, but by using the slider to turn the overall PC sound card sound volume to 50% and below everything had a much more normal volume range, and I did not get blasted out with overall loud ads anymore. Then users can adjust external amp sound sources and raise the volume desired, users might have to play around with both volume settings, the overall PC sound card output volume and the volume on the external amp sound source to get the right volume balance so the ads when played do not blast you.

[STREALOK]

yeah well... im just gonna go ahead and start with. spotify is literally ruining my daily mood!....
like seriously...
nothing gets me more upset, terrified, and horribly bad mood'ed than spotify adverts coming on at 200-300% volume
"Almost Literally"!!! blowing my ears out, while im just happily playing my survival games.
whenever it happens its so loud that my body literally freaks out in pain and lashes out at my headset..
yes im using a headset btw.. its seriously not fun

i have to say that i also don't usually report bugs or problems cause im a lazy **bleep**.. but this is really putting a cringe into my life...
i have multiple times been a hair strand away from uninstalling spotify but then it would be back to the old file system with old music from when i was 15yo...

(really it just puts the volume at 100% but considering i have it at 1/4-2/5 at "ALL TIMES" you probably understand)

and to make it worse i usually keep my system audio at 100% and my actual headset at around 80%...

im gonna stop ranting now cause i probably could go on forever.. thinking of starting an actual movement against spotify cause they have made me hate them so much for this.....

ps i think it only happens on video ads.. not sure

sincerely you angry neighborhood Zone Walker

[user-removed]

Hello:

@STREALOK

You posted

"(really it just puts the volume at 100% but considering i have it at 1/4-2/5 at "ALL TIMES" you probably understand)

and to make it worse i usually keep my system audio at 100% and my actual headset at around 80%..."

Which devices volumn is set to what exactly? I am a little confused by the above information you provided?

For me I have my overall OS sound volumn at 50% or below with no extra sound enhancements, these really mess with the Spotify sound output. I then adjust my external amp sound as needed starting from a very low volumn and then increase volumn, until I get to a point where any audio ads play so that I do not get blasted with loud sound from ads. It is a too high of volumn sound output from the Systems sound card volumn that does the sound blasting with ads, when added in conjuction with a high volumn output for an external sound amp system, like a computer speaker system with it's own external amp. Both volumn sources first have to be lowered and then adjusted from the external sound volumn source for a higher volumn wanted by the hearer for them not to get blasted by audio ads. Try cutting both sound sources volumn in half and then increase volumn if necessary of external amp sound sources gradually.

[user-removed]

No, not fixed

[user-removed]

No, they don't care.
No, still not fixed.

[donovan67]

Just want to second this.  It's causing a lot of inconvenience for me at work.

For what it's worth, the problem varies from one ad to another.  Not all of them are equally loud.  The one that is causing me, by far, the most trouble is an ad for Spotify Premium.  It features a female voice and starts out with something about slow internet "got you down?"  Sorry, cannot remember the exact wording.  Whatever happened, it hasn't always been this way.

Anyway, I may have to stop using Spotify at work.  I know signing up for Premium would solve the problem but I'm not paying money because the free version is suddenly not usable in my office.

[Nokaoii]

I just gave up and switched to Google Play Music.

They had a free 6 month trial with Youtube Music combined and now they've announced their Free ad support version I will use afterwards.

This long without Spotify even acknowledging that this is an issue that they will investigate or one they know about and are working on is way too long for me.

Done with Spotify.

Good luck.

[donovan67]

Follow-up post.  The ad I mentioned just came on again.  It's for the "Get three months of Premium for $0.99" promotion.  It starts with a female voice saying "Got no Internet?"  Not only is the ad much louder than the music, the voice is somewhat piercing and really exacerbates the issue.  That ad has come up twice in the last 30 minutes.  😞

Edited to fix a typo

[donovan67]

In the Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due department, the ad I posted about yesterday appears to have been fixed.  It's come on three or four times and the volume is right in line with the music.  I held off posting to make sure it wasn't a fluke but this ad is not an issue anymore, at least for me.

There are others that are still much louder than the music stream, however.  I wonder if this is something they can fix across the board or if we have to flag each ad on a case-by-case basis?  That would be a little disappointing but worth the effort if it gets quick results.

[donovan67]

Nevermind what I posted last week.  The offending ad is back to its former (way too loud) volume.  And there are some new ones that are even worse.  Since no one at Spotify seems to be paying any attention to this thread I see no point in continuing to post.

[Tonst3r]

Paying Pandora for my music services going forward.

How long does it take an incompetent team of asses to fix this volume problem.

Never paying such a trash company again. Shame, prefered it to pandora, but now I have no choice. Literally cannot listen to music when theres a random 400000 decible ad throughout the day. 

Spotify... you are seriously dumber then a sack of rocks for letting this go unfixed. Imagine how much potential revenue you'd get if someone over there did their darn job.

[DividingByZero]

I am having the same darn problem.  I know for a fact that this isn't a technical issue, it is a marketing tactic.  Just like television ads pump up the volume over the actual shows, they think we will listen more if they blast it.

Now - I know this is a side effect of using the free version - but I do think it is bad practice.  Not to mention it literally hurts my ears - I have the music at a good (safe) level and wear earbuds.  All of a sudden I am getting blasted (at unsafe sound levels)  that Public Enemy has a new album.  I will go as far as suggesting that there could be grounds for a lawsuit due to the unsafe sound levels.

I have been using for years and I am constantly sharing music links (Facebook, Twitter, etc...).  I will probably stop that if they continue this practice.  Eventually I will be done altogether.

[twhittet]

New user here, thought I'd try it out coming from Pandora.  With my full stereo I can crank it up high enough for music to be "clear" but I wouldn't say loud.  Then the ads come on BLARING.  With a tablet I can barely hear the music (Pandora plays nice and loud - as well as using ads at the same volume).

Also assume this is a marketing trick developed by a 10 year old.  I'm certainly not going to pay for premium because I doubt the normal volume with be any more useful, making it impossible to use on tablet or phone, and barely usable with a full system. 

[rdmickey1989]

Wanted to update everyone - It had been one month after my last post and we have had yet another Spotify update. 

• Loud ads continue several times an hour utilizing spotify installed on my computer. I have tried everything I know to adjust and nothing works. 

HOWEVER

• Spotify web player in Chrome still works GREAT. The ads play...but at the same volume as the music. It is the only way I listen at work now. I have been using it this way for a month. Consistent volume. 

Try using the spotify web player !! 

https://player.spotify.com/

[DividingByZero]

Just got blasted again with a REALLY LOUD ad for Public Enemy (it seems to be only some ads, this one is the most common to be too loud).  And when I say "REALLY LOUD" I mean so loud that I can still hear it perfectly clearly even with the volume down to 1% - so when it is up at my normal listening level of about 45% or so (spotify at 45%, computer main 75%) it is blaring.   

It is crazy that this is allowed, and might even be illegal (not sure if the same rules apply that do on TV commercials).  At a minimum you are actively damaging people's hearing, which is just bad business.

I see another user said that the web player doesn't have the same problem, I may check that out - but I much prefer using the dedicated app instead of having to leave a web browser window open.