Jim Kacmarcik’s position running Kapco Inc. and the various charities the company is involved with keeps him extremely busy. However, he has found the time to begin two new side ventures that are gaining steam this year.
The first and most established is called K-Nation Entertainment, which is an entertainment company that aims to find and help promote bands and musicians across the country.
“I enjoy music as much as anybody,” Kacmarcik said. “There are a lot of great artists around the country that are sitting on the sidelines that have no ability to share their talent with other people because record labels or entertainment companies aren’t investing in those opportunities like they used to.”
K-Nation is going to be much more focused on developing and promoting musicians than traditional companies, Kacmarcik said.
K-Nation has offered a contract to, and is now recording an album with, a band from Los Angeles and has optioned an artist from Nashville. The company is open to different musical styles, but artists should be family-friendly, Kacmarcik said.
“My approach is instead of a record company making 90 percent of the revenue and 10 percent going to the artist, I’m a guy who says let’s try to keep the company alive or surviving and let’s foster the growth of the artist,” he said. “All I want to do is provide a way to share the talent that we learn about with the public, whether that’s the local, regional or global public.
“We’re looking at artists and asking what do they need? Almost like a son or daughter, they’ve got an opportunity and what do I need to surround that individual or that band with that gives them the best opportunity to succeed?”
Kacmarcik is also working with officials from Concordia University in Mequon, where a new baseball stadium will be built this spring. The stadium will be home to a yet-to-be-named team that will play in the Northwoods League, which is made up of teams of college baseball players that want to play during the summer months.
Kacmarcik and Kapco will be donors to the team and will help organize it.
“We’re going to be providing a very low cost family affordable fun,” he said. “Every year you’ll have four, five or six players (from the team) drafted into the major leagues.”
Kacmarcik said his baseball and music endeavors are a hybrid between hobbies and new businesses.
“They’re more than hobbies. They’re really a way to get involved in something,” he said. “I enjoy sports and music, but also helping other people and providing something that people will find pleasurable to listen to or come and watch. It’s more for the artist (or team) than me. I’m just doing a connect-the-dots kind of deal.”
