Why does my track sound quieter than other songs on Spotify?

Usually because your master is quieter than Spotify’s -14 LUFS target and its peaks leave no room to turn it up.

Spotify’s loudness normalization page says the default setting adjusts every track to -14 LUFS. Louder songs get turned down. Softer ones get turned up, but Spotify says it considers the track’s headroom and leaves 1 dB for lossy encodings. So a soft master with peaks already near 0 dB can only come up part of the way. Our guide on how to master a song shows how to land at -14 LUFS with true peak below -1 dB.

Matching the number doesn’t always fix it, though. Two songs at the same LUFS reading can still feel different. A sparse mix with a tucked-in vocal and a lot of sub bass tends to feel softer next to a dense, bright pop track. Level-match a reference song in your genre, and if your vocal sinks, that’s a mix problem.

Then check how you’re listening. Spotify says the web player and third-party devices like TVs and speakers don’t normalize at all. Premium listeners can also switch it off: Spotify’s volume normalization page puts the toggle under Settings and privacy, then Playback. On those, a song mastered louder than yours really does play louder.

Planning to swap in a new master? Read whether remastering resets your play count before you upload.