Former Seven20 executive William Morris will run the company with Red Light manager Steve Satterthwaite.

Red Light Management, the independent music management firm that represents Dave Matthews Band, Chris Stapleton, Lionel Richie and Maren Morris, among others, is jumping into the gaming sector with the launch of Hit Command, a standalone company that will develop curated experiences, intellectual property and partnership opportunities for artists, brands and content creators who want to tap into the booming global gaming economy.

Hit Command was founded by CEO William Morris and partner Steve Satterthwaite, a manager of dance music acts at Red Light. Morris joined the management company founded by Coran Capshaw in March 2019 as its head of gaming. Prior to that, he was vp of eSports for Seven20, Roc Nation’s dance music artist management company, which reps Deadmau5.

“There has never been a better time for artists or brands to get into the gaming ecosystem,” says Morris, who cites data from the Entertainment Software Association and the NPD Group that global video gaming revenue hit $43.8 billion in 2018, up 18 percent from the previous year — a total that surpassed both the $41.7 billion and $28.8 billion generated globally that year at the movie box office and by film and TV streaming services.

“The user base in gaming is growing at an exponential pace here in the U.S and globally,” Morris adds.

“Territories like Asia, which have invested heavily in its telecom and wireless infrastructure, are allowing more people outside of the major metropolitan hubs to connect into the gaming ecosystem.”

Morris, who calls Hit Command, a “nimble” boutique agency, says the company will work with Red Light artists as well as those who aren’t to “build their IP and brand in the gaming space; work with artists and publishers to synch music into games; and serve as the agency of record with brands in the gaming space and brands that want to get into the space.”

The company is already operational.

On New Year’s Eve, Hit Command orchestrated an activation with its client Twitch Prime at Insomniac’s Countdown dance festival in San Bernardino, CA, where The Chainsmokers, Galantis and DJ Nitti Gritti were among the performers.

“We brought professional Twitch streamers — career gamers who livestream on the platform — into the artists compound to play Rocket League, then pulled in some festival goers to join in,” Morris says. “We also had Nitti Gritti premiere a new track, ‘Prime Time’ on Twitch Prime and offer a free download” for a 24-hour period.

Morris says the premiere drew 70,000 concurrent watchers.

“We created a vehicle to drive a new audience and showcase new music,” says Morris, who is also planning to do an activation with Twitch Prime at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas later this year. “We are going to make a big splash.”