Podcasts are now so much quieter than songs

[namida21]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Pixel 7

Operating System

Android 14

My Question or Issue

Podcasts sound are now so much lower than songs. This has been happening for a month. Listen to any NPR podcast with any song for comparison. It applies to other podcasts too. I have to turn the volume up for it to play at the same level of a song. This is not right. Thanks for looking into this.

[Susan_GP]

Hey there folks, 

Thanks so much for your replies and for letting us know about your findings.

Just to check, @namida21 and @ygingras, when you have volume normalisation off from your settings, the volume doesn't change when changing from music to Podcasts? This only happens when Volume normalization is on from your settings, right? Or do you still notice a slight difference in the volume?

Could any one else who's experiencing this double-check the difference when that setting is off vs when is on? On another note, could you guys send the info requested by @MihailY.

We'll be here.

[ygingras]

@Susan_GP, you see for yourself in the screen recording that I posted previously. I would say that there is always a volume drop when podcasts start, but that it's more dramatic when volume normalization is enabled.

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the response @ygingras! 

In order for us to be able to investigate further, it'd be very helpful if everyone that's experiencing this issue could send us the make, model and OS version of the device this is happening on, the Spotify version, as well as the other requested details by @MihailY in this post. The more info we gather, the better.

@namida21, @Orion5, @lelatar, @rwli 

[Orion5]

I messed with the Normalize Volume settings a little bit and found that when it is turned off, the podcasts are at normal volume whether it was a podcast or a normal song that was played before it, but the volume of normal songs are a lot higher.

I turned NV off, played JapanesePod, played Trash Taste Podcast, turned NV back on, and found that the volume stayed the same. I tested it again by turning NV off, played a normal song, played Trash Taste, and then turned NV back on, but this time I could hear it automatically get quieter as if I was lowering the volume myself.

I tested this on Spotify for Windows (64 bit) ver. 1.2.45.454.gc16ec9f6 as well as Spotify for iOS ver. 8.9.76.516 and they had the same result. I hope this extra info helps!

[Ivelina]

Hey there folks, 

Could you let us know if this is still happening with the newest Spotify-version?

@namida21 , @Orion5 , @lelatar , @rwli, @ygingras 

We'll be on the lookout 🙂

[ygingras]

@Ivelina, same problem with v8.9.78.513 on Android. If there is a more recent build, Google Play is not showing it to me. I can also manually install APKs if you have a beta build that worth trying.

[Orion5]

Can confirm it still happens on the iOS and Windows 64bit versions.

[Ivelina]

Hey @ygingras and @Orion5,

Thanks for confirming this is still happening.

We've let the right team know about this behavior and they'll take a closer look. Appreciate everyone that's taken the time to post their details in the thread and as soon as we have any updates, we'll let you know.

The Community's here if anything else comes up in the meantime 🙂

[czbecher]

ooh yes i just tried this and got the same thing. obviously this is a bug but it's great to have a workaround!

[mayniac]

I’ve also had this problem with podcasts playing on Bluetooth. Instead of turning it up to make it louder, I make sure the podcast is playing, then I completely restart the app, then press play again and it’s back to a good volume. I hope Spotify can fix the issue so I don’t have to keep doing this though

[listerhawk]

Thank you for reporting this. I too have been having the same issue. 

IOS version 8.9.76.516

[tdinterests]

Still experiencing this on Android. Spotify version: 

[tdinterests]

Spotify version 8.9.82.620

[ygingras]

It looks like the problem is fixed on Android v8.9.84.594! Great work, team!

[Joan]

Hi folks,

Thank you for all your replies.

We can confirm we're looking into this and that this should be addressed in a coming update. As @ygingras said, you might already have it fixed for you 🙂

Make sure to keep your apps up to date to take advantage of the fix as soon as it gets deployed. 

Cheers!