During a teleconference this week to promote the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour, singer Stevie Nicks spoke out against rising ticket prices.

"We wish we didn't have to charge anything," Nicks explained to press. "We wish we could go out and play. That's what we do; we're performance artists."

Nicks's statement comes at a time when the future of primary ticket prices is in question. The proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation has sparked industry fears of a monopoly that could inflate the face value of tickets.

Ticket prices for Fleetwood Mac's forthcoming Unleashed Tour range from a low of approximately $50 to a high of nearly $150 in most concert markets across the country.

Nicks attributed the ticket prices in part to the current costs of touring. "The price of life in general is a gazillion dollars more than it was four years ago," she commented, referencing the last time the classic rock band was on the road.

Fleetwood Mac is represented by Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff. In addition to the company's recent merger announcement, Ticketmaster has also come under fire for the its practices with subsidiary resale site TicketsNow.