Turn down the volume of loud ads

[fractalblaze]

Prevent ads from being louder than the song that came before it. I know the point of the ads is to annoy us into paying up, but it can be very painful to turn on some relaxing tunes after school/work, turn up the volume a bit to hear the quieter details, and then have a surprise advertisement blaring some awful hiphop noise or a screaming spokesman blast 5 times louder than the song. Just normalize the volume of ads so that they aren't louder than the song they follow. Ads should be the same volume as the music.

This can be implemented by having an internal variable to measure the average volume within the song, and then set the ad's volume to that **bleep**. This way, classical concertos are recognized at the lower volume they are, and the next ad won't be 5 times louder than the loudest part of the song. Or just have a "advertisement volume equalizer" checkbox somewhere in the account settings. Or let us turn up the volume for just one particular quiet song within a playlist, so that everything else plays at normal volume.

To all fellow Free users, please take my survey on what you do when an ad is BLASTED at you- I'm sending the responses to the companies being promoted by obnoxious ads, to let them know that loud ads reflect badly on them when we rip off our headphones. Also, contact the companies whose ads are BLASTED at you, and ask them to tell Spotify not to blast their ads. Shari's Berries apologized to us, and a McDonalds rep said they only design ads. Keep it up! Contact the marketing department of these companies and politely ask them to demand a normal volume for their ad.

Update Sept 27, 2017: Thank you so much for taking my survey about how you react to loud ads - it has 1,571 responses! Here are the results - please show these to companies whose ads are blasted at you!

 How Spotify users react to loud ads

Answers to Other (Please specify)
10/14/2014 1:11 PM: I tear my headphones off, then lower volume on spotify, then press play (cause lowering volume to bareable pauses the ad), wait for it to finish then pause the song after the ad so I can turn the volume up again

10/1/2014 4:29 PM: I take my ear buds out, then stop listening to the service. I **bleep** my hearing.

9/26/2014 12:12 PM: Contact the company and point out that I am going to avoid their products until their ads are played at a reasonable level.

9/20/2014 12:06 PM: click on the ad thumbnail, because it makes the ad stop playing

9/18/2014 11:25 AM: go to youtube or my ipod and listen to music from my playlists

6/9/2014 5:51 AM: have a hotkey and i mute it completely, then there is a timer that umutes it after 1 minute (only for loud ads)

4/14/2014 8:47 AM: turn off, switch to itunes

3/18/2014 1:27 PM: Remove headphones to avoid inner ear damage AND lower the volume on my device + lower the volume on Spotify to avoid annoying my coworkers, as the ads can be heard across the office because they're so LOUD

[brian-c22]

I listen to Spotiy at work on my speakers (not headphones, since I work in a call center and wear a  phone headset). With the way my cubicle is set up, I'm able to play and enjoy Spotify at a low volume without disburbing my co-workers.  That is, until an unsually loud advertisment comes blaring on. I understand the need for Spotify to play advertisments if I'm not willing to pay for the Premium upgrade, and I'm willing to accept the ads.  However, when and ad is unsually loud and blaring is is disrupting and I have to quickly hit the Pause button.  My question is, would Spotify rather have me not listen while I'm at work; or listen and accept the ads played at and acceptable volume to my music of choice??

[mikebolander]

I FOUND A SOLUTION TO THE LOUD AD VOLUME!!!   

1. Turn the Volume setting within Spotify UP all the way to the max.

2. Control the volume with the Windows volume control on the Taskbar down in the lower right corner near the clock.

That solved my problem with the Ads blasting in my ears.

[DIGITARGET]

Spotify should have a loudness control and QC approval !!
The diference on audio level of musics and the merchandising spots is insane!!

Spotify Premium ads **bleep**ed one of my home theater speakers.

Now I'll spend the Spotify Premium money to fix the speaker...

[scragr97]

A Chrome Extension which solve the problem!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/turn-down-spotify-ads/cpjimfbekopklioaojlhebbdcgcfdidk?hl=...

[RIPears]

Agreed. I listen to classical, and the ads literally abuse my ears due to the volume difference. 

The remarkable thing, from a marketing point of view, is that it makes me immediatly hit the 'mute' button. In other words, the rediculous volume difference makes me enjoy the service much less, PLUS it makes me not even listen to the ads, as I might do if they weren't abusively loud.

[fractalblaze]

Update Sept 27, 2017: Thank you so much for taking my survey about how you react to loud ads - it has 1,571 responses! Here are the results - please send these to companies whose ads are blasted at you!

  How Spotify users react to loud ads

Answers to Other (Please specify)
10/14/2014 1:11 PM: I tear my headphones off, then lower volume on spotify, then press play (cause lowering volume to bareable pauses the ad), wait for it to finish then pause the song after the ad so I can turn the volume up again

10/1/2014 4:29 PM: I take my ear buds out, then stop listening to the service. I value my hearing.

9/26/2014 12:12 PM: Contact the company and point out that I am going to avoid their products until their ads are played at a reasonable level.

9/20/2014 12:06 PM: click on the ad thumbnail, because it makes the ad stop playing

9/18/2014 11:25 AM: go to youtube or my ipod and listen to music from my playlists

6/9/2014 5:51 AM: have a hotkey and i mute it completely, then there is a timer that umutes it after 1 minute (only for loud ads)

4/14/2014 8:47 AM: turn off, switch to itunes

3/18/2014 1:27 PM: Remove headphones to avoid inner ear damage AND lower the volume on my device + lower the volume on Spotify to avoid annoying my coworkers, as the ads can be heard across the office because they're so LOUD

[meahtenoha]

Updated on 2018-02-07

Hi everyone, we appreciate your feedback here in the Spotify Idea Exchange around our ads for Free users.  Please know that we have applied audio normalization to all of our ads and that all new audio follows the same volume guidelines that we have for Spotify. 

If however you still find a specific ad is 'too loud' or has disruptive sound effects, like car noises, please post the specific details below as per the instructions in this thread - we'll make sure to pass it on to the right team.

Thanks again for all your feedback!

[MSI2017]

American Paint, new album, commercial is WAY too loud in Atlanta, GA.

[SoundingChip098]

There is currently a really loud BP advertisement that is much louder than the music level. This is happening in the UK on the desktop app.

[that_guy3]

There is a CVS ad being played in the Detroit market that is much louder than the music and other ads.