There's a tendency to think of copyright mostly in money terms. For the big earners like disney, and certainly for most of the middlemen you mention it is mostl

There's a tendency to think of copyright mostly in money terms. For the big earners like disney, and certainly for most of the middlemen you mention it is mostly money. For some creators though, it's different. I heard George RR Martin comment on this once. Tolkien's family (according to GRRM) did a great job guarding and protecting his works. He's horrified at the thought of a descendent making selling Targaryan cream buns or allowing shitty derivative novels. That isn't a money concern, but it is a property rights concern of sorts. In any case, I think the sorts of right GRRM feels are his could still be preserved, without keeping all copyright the same.