"...It was a real challenge to find venues around the country that could work with our exclusive ticketing service under these perameters. It means I'm playing in very new places. I really appreciate all of these theaters that are letting us give this a try."

We did a charity concert at one of those venues. Between ticketmaster's cut, and their $$$ mail you a ticket charge or the $$ print your own ticket fee and the tax that somehow we don't get back because we aren't a big enough charity

It would have been better to make it free and pass a hat around

He's just playing different venues. For example, he'll be playing Symphony Hall in Boston, where they already do all their own ticketing, instead of the TD Bank North Garden, which uses TicketMaster.

As per the text in the link he's had to play at "smaller" and "newer" venues who aren't locked into those contracts. This means he might have to play more shows at a particular venue if it's smaller.