That's essentially how proprietary software has always worked except the copyright is usually owned by a corporation rather than an individual. Unlike most art

That's essentially how proprietary software has always worked except the copyright is usually owned by a corporation rather than an individual. Unlike most artistic works software projects usually require large teams rather than being the product of one or a small group of authors. The only parallel I can see would be with films. I'm not sure how compensation works in the film industry but my guess is that most people who work on a film are employees of the studio and only a very small group of people receive any royalties.