That's how it was originally but over time the terms have been extended (largely due to advocacy from organizations that own large catalogs of copyrighted material). It's now tied to the life of the creator rather than the time since creation or publication.

Yep. It needs to be restored or even shortened beyond the original window.

IIRC, early copyright (say, during Mozart's time) required royalties to only be paid out for the first performance of a work.

And that is why some of these composers were so prolific - to keep up their payday, they had to crank out music instead of collecting on royalties of performances they were directly involved with.

Unthinkable today, really.

This is the simple solution. 10 years seems fine to me, 20 years at a stretch.

The current regime is a clear case of regulatory capture.

So musicians should not be compensated when their old songs play on the radio? You made your money in 1974 now move along while my company exploits your work for free.

Nope, guess not