Copyright used to be for 17 years and was intended to benefit the individual who created the work.
Now Mickey Mouse has seen to it that copyright lasts 99 years (and it will be extended again the next time Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain) and the primary beneficiaries of copyright are not individuals, but ASCAP, GE, Viacom, etc.
I agree that 99 years is excessive. But I see nothing wrong with an individual creator exchanging their intellectual property for valuable considerations (such as employment).