Joe Boone -  Special to The Daily News -

King Curtis had it right. In the opening crescendo of his soul classic “Memphis Soul Stew,” he masterfully assembles his ingredients: “half a teacup of bass, a pound of fat-back drums, four tablespoons of boiling Memphis guitar.”

The man makes a good soup.

Dean Deyo, president of the Memphis Music Foundation, faces a similar predicament. His challenge is to blend the ingredients of Memphis’ fiercely independent musical culture into a legitimate arts economy.

Deyo spoke Wednesday at a luncheon sponsored by the Sales & Marketing Society of the Mid-South.

“Memphis has always been the home of independent music. Everybody you meet does something,” said Deyo.

This is true, but it used to be truer. There was a time when the music business was the third-largest employer in town. What makes Memphis work for companies like FedEx and Mallory Alexander International Logistics also was a factor when records had to be pressed and put on trucks.

Record companies like Atlantic were experimental endeavors and Southern production was cheap compared to New York.

“Consolidation killed independent music,” said Deyo.

Labels looking for economies of scale pulled everything back to Los Angeles and Nashville. Radio was doing the same thing. Music began its artistic and economic slide into myopic and over-produced conformity. Memphis lost one of its economic engines.

“This is not going to grow without enthusiastic support from the local business community. When you are hiring a 26-year-old computer programmer, buzz matters,” said Deyo.

“We hire young people. When I moved here, the only things I knew about Memphis were Martin Luther King and Elvis Presley,” said Pat Routh, an SMS board member and vice president of sales for Creative Testing Systems.

The Memphis Music Foundation is a nonprofit funded by the local business community. It operates the Memphis Music Resource Center, an incubator for artists, and provides a comprehensive array of tools and partners necessary in developing a career.

On Monday artists at the center included everyone from up-and-comer Daniel Sage to American Idol finalist Alexis Grace.

Even with all of the exposure of a national television audience, Grace, a native Memphian, still needs the help provided by the center.

“I’m a member. It’s a great tool for anyone. Free advice is really hard to come by,” said Grace.

Every imaginable digital creation tool (from posters to reverbs) is loaded on a bank of available computers. There is wall of free legal documents including contracts, copyright forms and agreements. There is pro bono legal counsel available.

“If someone has a need, say for a graphic designer or an audio engineer, we introduce them to someone with a Memphis ZIP code who can meet that need. We help them build a team,” said Deyo.

And it’s not just for beginners. Older artists have a lot to gain too. Members include certifiable soul masters like David Porter and Al Bell.

“We have people with hits who want to learn about Facebook. So they are here too,” said Deyo.

But operating in the vacuum left by the music economy Diaspora of the 1990s, it was hard to get a baseline on the level of employment. One government estimate stated there were 206 musicians in Memphis.

But the foundation exceeded participation projections and currently works on regularly with around 1,700 local artists.

The foundation’s “musical census” is one part of an effort to quantify and follow the economic impact of getting down. The second part is tracking work by known musicians and associated trades.

The foundation recently celebrated its second year in a renovated South Main space shared by other creative companies like See The Difference Interiors and Doug Carpenter & Associates. It is another ingredient in a stew that is starting to smell like an arts economy.