Not really. Let’s say I pay an artist to design a logo for my company. Normally, they assign all the right to me and the deal’s done. If the rights revert back to the artist after twenty years, I would have to renegotiate with the artist to continue using my company’s logo. That’s not reasonable or good.
It’s the same thing with the song I sold for that TV show. Under this copyright reversion idea, if the show had been a success and had entered syndication, the company would have to renegotiate with every artist who did music for every scene. It would be too hard/expensive and no one would ever see the show again.
If, however, the works entered the public domain after 24 years, they and everyone else could use those songs and shows freely.
