Excellent post!
Steemit has a huge potential to fill many "gaps" in the creative equation, if the community executes things right. Whereas I really like the underlying Patreon idea, I find it harder to use and make functional. It's great for those who create in a fashion that allows them to break their work into "snippets" as rewards for their patrons... but not all creativity is snippet-able. Steemit also has the upper hand because creativity is rewarded as part of the curation process... there's still marketing of "Brand You" involved, but you don't have to talk anyone out of their lunch money.