Oh I don't think we disagree there; no one should be able to force someone to publish their works. But an artist (and their estate) shouldn't be able to retroa

Oh I don't think we disagree there; no one should be able to force someone to publish their works. But an artist (and their estate) shouldn't be able to retroactively banish any of their published works from society simply by holding on to their copyrights. Copyright is a deal made with society; you get to publish your work without fear of anyone else making a profit of it by simply copying your work, but for a limited time. After that it enters the public domain.