Nominees for the 79th annual Academy Awards [ tickets ] were announced today, including those for Original Song, the lion's share of which are featured in the recently released box-office hit "Dreamgirls."

The "Dreamgirls" tracks "Listen" (written by Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven; performed by Beyonce [ tickets ]), "Love You I Do" (written by Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett; performed by Jennifer Hudson), and "Patience" (written by Henry Krieger and Willie Reale; performed by Eddie Murphy, Keith Robinson, Anika Noni Rose) snagged three of the five Original Song nominations, with the remaining two going to Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," and Randy Newman's "Our Town" from the animated flick "Cars."

Paula Abdul [ tickets ] has signed on to host a benefit concert for In Defense of Animals. The event will mark the launch of IDA's Disaster Relief Fund, which will aid animals still affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as help animals in future disasters, according to a press release.

Among the artists scheduled to perform are Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night), Howard Scott (War), Robbie Dupree, Lester Chambers (The Chambers Brothers), Stephen Bishop, Joey Gian, E.G. Daily, Keaton Simons, Amana Melome, Justin Hopkins, Steve Ferrone, Alphonso Johnson, Peter Wolf, Jeff Pevar (CPR), Steve Postell, Jeff Levine, Jaared, Morris Pleasure, John Leftwich, Seleno Clarke and Paul Peress.

Additional details about the show, which is set for Feb. 17 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, are available at the event's website.

Virgin Records today (1/23) issued a new version of London-based alt-rock trio Placebo [ tickets ]'s latest album, "Meds." Originally issued in the US last year by the Astralwerks label, the updated set now includes two previously unreleased tracks ("Uneedmemorethanineedu" and "Lazarus"), as well as the group's cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."

MTV and Verizon Wireless have partnered to launch a new music series dubbed "MTV Live." The monthly program--which will feature live performance from "some of the biggest names in music," according to a press release--will be taped for broadcast in front of a live audience at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City's Time Square and will air on MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Tr3s, MTV.com and on MTV Mobile on Verizon Wireless' V Cast.

The first episode is scheduled to premiere Feb. 6 on MTV and will feature a commercial-free performance from Fall Out Boy [ tickets ]. Future episodes will feature Nas, Akon and Gym Class Heroes, according to MTV.