[lotsofpulp]

I do not see why exclusive distribution is always a bad thing, unless one is also claiming that a manufacturer has no right to sell directly to end users, such as Tesla.

Would a carpenter be able to only distribute their furniture directly to their customer? A hotel be not be able to exclusively take reservations from their hotel guests? An independent videographer not be able to sell their own videos however they want?

I think the solution here is to reduce copyright to 10 years. Or maybe 15. Then there is no more “exclusive” distribution.

[arrosenberg]

In our combined scenario a carpenter can sell to anybody as long as they sell to everybody at the same price for the same type of buyers (retail/wholesale).

The solution is to mandate non discriminatory licensing, everything else you suggested is a workaround to avoid that step.