Loudness Normalization? Songs are reading louder than -14LUFS

[gilpatr]

I've measured the LUFS on a handful of songs on the Spotify desktop app using the Loudness plugin in Logic and also Izotope's Insight 2, and they are reading at -10LUFS, -12LUFS etc - see attached screenshot. I thought Spotify would normalize them to -14LUFS? I also have the 'Normalize Volume' option ticked in my Spotify Preferences. Can you please confirm if this is true? Why are the songs louder than -14LUFS? I'm in the process of mastering my own album and have been aiming for -14LUFS, assuming Spotify would normalize it if it's louder. Thanks!

[gilpatr]

PS, I have the Volume level set to Normal.

[Xenia]

Hey there @gilpatr,

Thanks for reaching out here and welcome to the Community! We're happy to shed some light on the situation.

The loudness of a song depends on how Loudness Normalization relates to the master. This means that some tracks can sound louder than other tracks on Spotify. You can read more about that here. 

Hope this answers your question. Let us know if there's anything else you need help with.

Best of luck with the release of your album 🤘

[gilpatr]

Hi there,

I'm not really sure if this answers my question. I'm aware of normalization
and more specifically have mastered by album so each song is around -14LUFS.

I have then measured other tracks on Spotify and see many of them are above
-14LUFS (many are -10LUFS etc). Therefore I wanted to see if others could
confirm this is the case and therefore if Spotify actually do normalize to
-14LUFS as they state on their website. If my research is correct and they
do no normalize, I will go ahead and make my album louder (eg to -10LUFS
like I see other similar songs on the platform are). Hope this all makes
sense and you or others have some further insight into the discussion.

Thanks,
Pat