Authorship prior to copyright was done via patronage by the elites in society or by the elites themselves. I don't necessarily see that as a preferable situati

Authorship prior to copyright was done via patronage by the elites in society or by the elites themselves. I don't necessarily see that as a preferable situation. Is there a different model that we could work under that allows a person to have a primarily artistic creative profession (e.g. artist, writer, photographer) and be able to make a living doing it that doesn't require the gatekeeping of government or another wealthy patron?