I think what actually happened in 2012, and before 2012, was that a false dichotomy was introduced into the debate, which is the idea that you describe, that users and creators are competing somehow over something.
I'm a creator. All my members are creators. We are also users of copyrighted content. We've all been students. We're all engaged in this interaction with content. To set it up as a competition, as some sort of a see-saw where we have to have a perfect balance, is probably not the right way to look at it. I think we need something that works for everybody, but not necessarily something that works for everybody exactly equally at all times.
If I'm a user as well as a creator, that means, as you said, there are far more users than there are creators. You put one giant group on one side of a see-saw and a small group on the other side of the see-saw, and we're to the moon. I just don't see that as a workable way of looking at it.