Wee Sing Buyback
by Shannon Maughan -- Publishers Weekly, 7/12/2004
Pam Beall and Susan Nipp, the creators of the Wee Sing line of children's books, music and videos, recently purchased the rights to Wee Sing's home video titles from MCA/Universal. Penguin Young Readers Group will continue to publish the Wee Sing books and CDs.
Beall and Nipp became frustrated with their video distribution arrangement after receiving a steady stream of complaints that consumers were not able to find Wee Sing videos in various retail outlets. With assistance from Penguin, the duo negotiated a deal to start a new company to distribute and sell the Wee Sing titles themselves. Wee Sing Productions (www.weesing.com) relaunches the first four one-hour titles on DVD next month, with another five titles to follow later in 2004.
Beall and Nipp, both music educators, launched Wee Sing as a self-published venture in the late '70s to provide wholesome entertainment and educational opportunities via their favorite childhood songs. By 1980, Wee Sing was acquired by Price Stern Sloan (now a division of Penguin) and in 1981 began producing audiocassettes to accompany its books. The videos first debuted in 1985.
