BMG has acquired the music publishing, recorded music royalty and neighboring rights interests of Andrew Stockdale, the singer, guitarist and main songwriter of Australian rock band Wolfmother, announced on August 4, 2026. The price was not disclosed.
What changes hands
BMG has administered Stockdale's publishing worldwide since 2016. With this deal it moves from administrator to owner and adds his recorded music royalties and neighboring rights, so all three of his main rights streams now sit with one company. Stockdale co-founded Wolfmother in Sydney. The band's 2005 self-titled debut went five times platinum in Australia and gold in the US, Canada and Germany, and Wolfmother won the 2007 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Stockdale also took three ARIA Awards in 2006, including Best Group and Best Rock Album, and was named APRA Songwriter of the Year in 2007.
The catalog
- Woman: the Grammy-winning single from the 2005 debut.
- Joker and the Thief: a track now heard at major sporting events.
- Dimension and White Unicorn: songs that date back to the band's original demos.
- Cosmic Egg (2009): the second album, which debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200.
Wolfmother's music has been used in The Hangover, Ted Lasso and the Guitar Hero and Madden NFL franchises.
Why it matters
This is a classic conversion deal: a publisher that already administers a writer's songs buys them outright once the relationship is proven. Stockdale publicly credited the sync placements BMG secured for him, which shows how administration performance can lead to a sale. The acquisition is funded through BMG's Boost program, backed by parent Bertelsmann, which has also produced deals for A Flock of Seagulls in 2026 and for Jason Aldean's catalog, reported at $250 million, in September 2025.
For artists, bundling publishing, recorded royalties and neighboring rights into one sale can make a catalog more attractive, because the buyer controls both sides of every sync. Songs with a track record in film, TV and games tend to be the strongest assets in these conversations.