Life expectancy is 2.5X what it was when these laws were first conceived and the majority of creative people have a relatively short peak creative period where most of their valuable output comes - eg. Typical recording artists last no more than 10 years & to be able to achieve their peak, they have to often give up on things that promise stable careers for people (advanced college degrees, internships and starter roles in the 20s) not in the creative industry. So why not let them enjoy the benefits of their creativity through royalty in their old age if someone streams their song decades later? There are a lot of senior artists who would be facing very significant hardship if not for their royalties. You can see this much more often in athletes who don't have a royalty stream.