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

[mistryfire]

I want to report ear popping advertisement. the add is from big american pizza. it is 4 times louder than my music on top of that it is full of stipid tekst and wierd stuff. 

i can only discribe it as a unprofesional distastefull advertisement.

please turn down the volume or remove it.

[capnJackSparrow]

Related

[capnJackSparrow]

The Yam Haus Commercial is way too loud.

[capnJackSparrow]

The Haelstorm ad is horrifically piercing compared to normal music

[capnJackSparrow]

Yo. The pepto bismol ad in the Kansas City market is pretty loud

[jocago]

This problem is about to drive me away. Each ad should be leveled and then analyzed for RMS (not peak). It should, on playback, be matched with the relative loudness of the song at the current volume. That does not even address how annoying an ad is, just how tolerable. Right now, it's intollerable. Otherwise happy to have ads pay for the service. 

[Hb1290]

I'm in Australia and I've got a Coles Express ad that's WAY too loud, at least I can skip it now...

[Kberryparker]

Soo  yeah  the ads are still much louder than the music. 

[user-removed]

https://www.fcc.gov/media/policy/loud-commercials

The Fcc has rules regulating Ad Volume on almost all mediums, internet is still a bit vague I think.  They are breaking laws if any of the rules here are obeyed.

[Deanofgreens]

"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" LOL theres literally 35 pages of people complaining about how this hasnt been fixed after this comment, and no response? This is a joke and a daily thing that pisses me off.. I even listen to really loud heavy metal, and STILL the ads hurt my ears. Just now i was in my kitchen making food, listening at a reasonably high level and had to drop everything an RUN to my computer when the ads started. They are SOO LLOUUDD. This is an obvious attempt as annoying customers into paying for the service. The people paying for the ads are geting ripped off too, because OF COURSE the natural reaction that everyone will have is to mute the ad as soon as possible. If it were a reasonable volume compared to my music, i wouldnt have sprinted to the mute button and would have actually heard the ad. Spotify - bad business practice