1 - My brother put me onto it. I thought I'd turn it into a bit of an experiment and see how the model would fit the music writing industry.

2 - I think a lot of it is tied up in potential. I really need to see how those SMT 2.0 work for an entity outside of Steemit. We've got a lot of publications moving away from comment threads on their websites - reasons generally falling around the pains of moderation, plus enthusiast audiences tending to have a slightly poisonous nature when clumped together on the internet e.g. gamers are literally one of the worst audiences I have come across and I absolutely distance myself from that term - and I've generally noted that Steemit offers pretty little in terms of being able to address that. Gaming the reward pool, invulnerability through SP - these things need to be addressed before you see websites start to pick it up.

For musicians, dSound is good, dLive is good - I've got major concerns about their ability to control copyright. There is no delete, no moderation - as alluded to above - so there is nothing really stopping someone making a mint by uploading, let's say, a catalogue of vinyl only stuff with a "I do not own this material" disclaimer. Especially if the user is fundamentally flag proof. A record label isn't really going to be interested in the concept of collective moderation, they're going to want to point a finger at a person and say "take this down, you're earning money off our work". Other blockchains currently offer good solutions, the ability to remove music that breaks copyright, contractual mechanics to offer measures around licensing. Clever things. Also, in reference to another comment about cutting out the middle man, a lot of musicians don't have a middle man - the are the marketing, record label and talent rolled together. They absolutely don't want to see someone raking it in off their intellectual property by acting as some sort of blockchain music aggregator.

The idea that a musician could run a blog and get content, post tour updates, that sort of thing, and get money for it, is a good concept. I see that appealing. Again, I think I have noted another blockchain out there that specifically caters for that sort of need.

How well Steemit performs will be in terms of adoption. If it becomes the standard, then it will become a valuable tool. If it fails to address its housekeeping issues and structural flaws, it could see the specialist blockchains steal a march as it tries to be a jack of all trades.

3 - Find appropriate people and follow them. Find out who they value and follow them. Interact with them and build up a network. If all you have are the tags, Hot and Trending, you're going to have a dry and un-engaging time as you wade through the awful chaff.