Mounted Memories, the sports and entertainment memorabilia manufacturing division of Dreams, Inc., has entered into a licensing agreement with Live Nation Merchandise, Inc., to produce framed presentations featuring The Beatles. The first four collectable presentations are now available at The Beatles official online store.

The first framed presentation in the series features miniature images of all 13 of The Beatles’ U.K. album cover images matted in black and complemented with the band’s official logo laser-cut into the matting. The next three presentations in the first wave are titled “1962,” “1963,” and “1964,” and celebrate those years in the band’s career with classic photos from the respective eras along with laser-cut logos. A fifth framed presentation will follow, commemorating The Beatles’ historic first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. It will debut in September.

And on a related note, because I can, I’ll share with you one of my favorite Beatles songs:

Walmart announced yesterday that it is removing all Miley Cyrus jewelry from its stores, after it was determined that the products contain high amounts of cadmium. The Associated Press conducted its own testing on the jewelry and discovered that the jewelry contained dangerous levels of the ingredient.

Though it is safe to wear cadmium, the danger comes if it is ingested. Since young children may put the jewelry in their mouths, Walmart determined the best course of action would be to remove the products entirely.
Walmart will continue its investigation into the product’s safety, but in the meantime, the products will be removed from the store.

The Associated Press conducted its test on 61 samples bought nationwide and found that they contained high amounts of the element. Out of 61 jewelry pieces, 59 contained at least 5 percent cadmium and 53 contained 51 percent.

The product line, which was a Walmart exclusive, consisted of necklaces and bracelets.

Check out the related Associated Press story here.

Act III Licensing announced the addition of new licensees for Ray Charles on behalf of its client the Ray Charles Marketing Group. To help celebrate the kick-off of his 80th Anniversary, Friend or Foe is designing Men’s fashion tee-shirts that will debut in the Fall at high-end retail and specialty. They add Ray Charles to their iconic roster which includes Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin.

In addition to Friend or Foe, other Ray Charles licensees include:

• Allposters.com/Art.com for framed art
• Yerzies for print on demand tees
• Medium Cool for tee-shirts as part of the Jim Marshall collection

In other news, Unchain My Heart, a new musical biography of Ray Charles, is headed to Broadway in the fall of 2010. Featuring a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, The Book of Grace) and direction by Sheldon Epps, the show will begin previews on October 8 and open on November 7 at a Shubert theater to be announced.

Act III Licensing will be featuring Ray Charles at Licensing Show, June 8-10, 2010 in Las Vegas, Booth #2063.

The King of Pop’s fans are doing backflips today at the news that Cirque du Soleil will produce a show based on the late pop star’s music, according to the New York Daily News and other outlets.

According to the Cirque du Soleil website, an arena-touring show is expected to debut in late Fall 2011 and a Las Vegas permanent show is expected to open in late 2012.

In a statement, Michael’s mother, Katerine, said that the family was “thrilled that Cirque du Soleil will pay tribute to my son in such an important way.”

Michael Jackson’s estate and Cirque du Soleil to produce show based on King of Pop’s music [NYDN]

Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. has entered an exclusive distribution agreement with Autumn Games, 4mm Games, and Def Jam Interactive for the upcoming music videogame Def Jam Rapstar. Developed by 4mm Games, Terminal Reality, and Def Jam Interactive, Def Jam Rapstar is the first true interactive Hip Hop music game experience for consoles, and will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii this fall.

Def Jam Rapstar is the only music game that focuses exclusively on Hip Hop. The game offers more than 40 Hip Hop songs, including region-specific music for the UK and Europe. Players move through the game by rhyming, using their console camera, and uploading their video to the fully integrated Def Jam Rapstar community online. Def Jam Rapstar also offers gamers the ability to freestyle over tracks by Hip Hop producers and upload their freestyle performances for the world to decide how good they really are.

Hip Hop artists confirmed as part of the game are 2 Pac, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, Notorius B.I.G., Slick Rick, and the Wu Tang Clan.

Michael Jackson is still the king.

According to Reuters, Sony Music has signed a 10-year, $250 million deal with Jackson’s estate to publish previously unreleased material and the late singer’s catalog. The soundtrack from the movie This Is It, which chronicled the preparations for what was supposed to be Jackson’s final tour, sold more than 5 million copies.

Sony in new music deal with Michael Jackson estate [Reuters]

From time to time here, we’re going to link to articles or blogs that get a little outside of the scope of what we usually cover. Yesterday we found a blog post at Sorted Noise that discussed the travails of Do-It-Yourself music licensing, and found it an interesting and worthwhile read. Click over here to read it, and let us know about your own experiences in the music licensing business in the comments.

A Living, Breathing Study of a DIY Music Artist [Sorted Noise]

Talk about natural partnerships.

Broad Street Licensing Group has sparked up a deal between BIC USA and Live Nation for disposable lighters branded with the images and icons of several rock bands. The first series debuts Live Nation’s roster of bands including Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Motley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and KISS.

Rock on.

As most of you have probably heard, Conan O’Brien is out, and Jay Leno is back in, as host of The Tonight Show. The last two weeks have been a valedictory of sorts for O’Brien, whose lifelong goal was to host The Tonight Show and, rather than be forced out of his time slot, is leaving the network altogether. He’s thrown jokes at NBC fast and furious, and last night continued his barrage, only this time he hit NBC where it hurts: its pocketbook. He reminded viewers that he’s still entitled to spend the show’s enormous budget, and then introduced its “newest character:” the Bugatti Veyron Mouse, which is really just the world’s most expensive car with crudely-attached mouse ears and whiskers. The mouse’s theme song? “Satisfaction,” by the Rolling Stones. Why? Here’s Conan:

“Is this appropriate music for a car that looks like a mouse? No! Does it add anything at all to this comedy bit? No, it doesn’t. Is it crazy expensive to play on the air, not to mention the rights to re-air this clip on the Internet? Hell yes.”

Unsurprisingly, this clip isn’t available on Hulu.com but you can see it here, along with several others. It’s the third one down.

For the record, yes, we’re on Team CoCo.

On the heels of the news that JAKKS Pacific is expanding its Taylor Swift line of dolls, fashions and playsets for 2010, it’s time to stop and acknowledge one fact: Taylor Swift cannot be stopped. At the ripe old age of 20, she outsold every other musical act in the United States in 2008; her embrace of MySpace pretty much changed the online music medium; and on top of that, she hosted what was almost universally acclaimed as the best Saturday Night Live of the year.

The best way to describe this is that Taylor Swift has “it.” The “it” is a combination of intelligence, empathy humility and grace that has nothing to do with age. Most people learn to balance these things at a high level as they get older, and a lot of musicians Swift’s age have rough, fairly predictable adjustment periods to fame. Swift seems completely beyond all this: she knows who she is, and she has no problem moving ahead. She may not have an alter ego like Miley—but she doesn’t need one, either.