photograph by jon w. sparks
Editor's Note: Community leaders gathered at Memphis Botanic Garden on May 7th to honor the 2025 CEOs of the Year, honoring five business leaders who are making the best kind of impact on the Mid-South: Boo Mitchell with Royal Studios, Brett Batterson with the Orpheum Theatre Group, Laurie Powell with Alliance Healthcare Services, Dr. Stewart Burgess with the Children’s Museum of Memphis, and Ted Townsend with the Greater Memphis Chamber. Here, we spotlight Boo Mitchell and the work he's done at Royal.
It’s easy to see how much passion Boo Mitchell has for music, but it’s more than making it and listening to it. He’s also in the business end of it, always a risky pursuit when it comes to marketing and making a living in the arts. And he will tell you that the biggest challenge of all is staying relevant.
Royal Studios has been a recording mecca for a wide variety of musicians from around the globe. It’s one of the oldest perpetually operated recording studios in the world and has given birth to several million-sellers. Mitchell’s father, the legendary Willie Mitchell, took over its operation in 1970 and young Boo was involved in it from an early age. He started managing the studio around 2000 and got familiar with running a business.
And he’s managed to keep it relevant. “It’s easy to become stagnant when you’ve had any level of success,” he says. “It’s easy to just stay in your box. But I try to always constantly think outside of the box and take on every project with a fresh new approach, like being a kid in the candy store. I’m really a big kid like, oh man, we’ve got new toys to play with on the playground, so how can I just have fun and create a vibe? I think with music, the energy and the spirit of the people go into the music. I’m always trying new things and doing different collaborations, and people keep asking me to make their records.”
“My dad always told me, ‘Take care of your musicians, because they’re really the core of the success of any producer, any studio.’”
While everyone has always wanted essentially the same thing — to make a hit record — the music industry has changed in significant ways. “A lot of it is intellectual property,” Mitchell says. “Twenty years ago, we didn’t have Spotify, we didn’t have Pandora and Sound Exchange and all those things. A lot of new money is being created and realizing different streams of income that we didn’t have before, so you really have to stay on top of the business.”
Mitchell has been active in pushing for legislation, particularly the Music Modernization Act that was signed into law in 2018 and updated music copyright laws for the digital age, making it possible for songwriters and publishers to have a new income stream.
“I deal with a lot of legacy musicians,” he says, “like the Hi Rhythm Section, the guys that play on all Al Green’s records. So I have the OGs that I’m always working with, and trying to keep those guys working. Then I have the next generation of musicians coming in that I like to expose them to things and keep them working as well.”
That comes from lessons he learned long ago. “My dad always told me, ‘Take care of your musicians, because they’re really the core of the success of any producer, any studio.’”
And he’s still fighting the battles. While the Music Modernization Act was essential, there are still issues to be resolved. There is money being collected by countries around the world for radio play, but a loophole prevents American musicians from getting their share.
It’s all part of what an international business owner has to deal with, and Royal Studios, even with its mom-and-pop feel, is a global enterprise. “That family touch resonates with people,” Mitchell says, “and the international music fans really study Memphis. The International Blues Challenge brings us new business because they’re people from Australia and the UK. I have an ongoing relationship with a Korean blues guy that I’ve done three projects with, and he was in town at the IBC.”
Furthermore, Mitchell goes after the business, flying around the world to push his music. The “Take Me to the River” film series and other documentaries have been beneficial, and he does live shows with legacy artists that spread the gospel of Memphis.
It always comes back to the Bluff City. “Memphis is always the hero. The people, the spirit — they appreciate the authenticity and the realness and the people in Memphis. People tell you exactly what they think, but it’s not contrived. And even with the limitations of resources, it makes us work harder as Memphians because it’s like we’re always the underdog.”
That authenticity is crucial not just to Memphis music, but to how Mitchell, that kid in the candy store, operates. “We have our gut feelings and our instincts,” he says. “And really, just about every success I’ve ever had all started from a gut feeling and my execution of it.” — Jon W. Sparks
