That doesn't just apply to people very close to death. If copyright ended right on death, the the work of someone in their 20's would have twice as long to earn

That doesn't just apply to people very close to death. If copyright ended right on death, the the work of someone in their 20's would have twice as long to earn revenue as the work of someone in their 50's. The former's work would still be covered when nostalgia bump came, while the later's work would not. This would create significant financial incentives for publishers/labels/etc to pick up younger artists instead of older ones, in markets that are already skewed towards younger people. Fixed term makes so much more sense. We should have never signed the Berne Convention.