What Is Loudness Normalization?
Most streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and TIDAL, apply loudness normalization. This automatically turns tracks up or down toward a target loudness level so that listeners do not have to keep adjusting their volume between songs.
Why Your Track May Sound Quieter
If your master is mastered very loud (heavily compressed and limited), the service will turn it down to hit its target. A track mastered too loud can end up sounding quieter, flatter, and less dynamic than a track mastered at a sensible level, because the loud one loses its punch after normalization.
What the Targets Look Like
Services normalize to a loudness target measured in LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale). Different platforms use slightly different targets, commonly around -14 LUFS, but each platform sets its own. You cannot control the target, only how you prepare your audio.
How to Prepare Your Audio
- Do not over-compress. Chasing maximum loudness rarely helps once normalization is applied.
- Master for dynamics and clarity, not just volume.
- Leave headroom. Avoid clipping and inter-sample peaks.
- Meet the standard Audio File Requirements for InterSpace uploads.
Small differences in perceived loudness between platforms are normal and are caused by their individual normalization. This is not an error with your release or with delivery.