well who doesn't like money?
Says the boxeur that gets paid to lose encounters
Until very recently, art and artists always had been under commission and sponsoring, and sponsors obviously had some requests about what elements should be present into the work ("...and I want my portrait in a corner, maybe as one of the saints? Nobody impotant, say St. William, it can be done?") and what message needed to be conveyed ("...the whole fresco should showcase the role of the Este family..."). This scandalized no one, and actually some argue that that system worked way better than the current one, because it gave art a purpose, a function (I'm not qualified enough to have an opinion on this).
The problem arises when the author allows their sponsors to decide what's going on in the work and where the work is going: in this case they are giving up autorship.
Now, publishers and editors often set a firm foot in authorship for books and movies, but those are professionals. If you are giving up autorship to your sponsor, you're signing a work that's been authored by a dilettante at best, more often an unskilled amateur. That, obviously, can end only badly.