Spotify is raising the price of its ad-free premium service in more than 50 countries, including the US, UK and Ireland.

The music-streaming company, which has more than 200m Premium subscribers, said the move will result in a $1 (78p) increase for US-based plans.

This means the price of a single plan will now start at a monthly rate of $10.99 (£8.56), duo at $14.99 (£11.68), the family plan at $16.99 (£13.29) and the student plan at $5.99 (£4.67).

The price of UK-based plans is set to increase by £1, according to technology news website The Verge.

A total of 53 countries will be affected by the price hike, including Spain, Australia, Canada and France.

The company said existing subscribers will be notified one-month before price changes come into effect.

It comes as the other streaming services have also raised prices due to increasing pressure from investors to boost profitability after years of growing user numbers.

Services from Apple and Amazon have increased prices this year, while YouTube also hiked prices last week on its monthly and annual premium plans in the US, the first time since the subscription service was launched in 2018.

In recent months, Spotify has laid off hundreds of staff and restructured the podcast unit, which it had built up with billions of dollars in investment, in order to improve profit.

The Sweden-based company said Premium subscribers will have to change to their free ad-supported service if they do not wish to pay the higher fee.