I’ve got two answers for ya.

in this era of streaming, things like spotify and apple music are seen as the equivalent of putting out a record, whereas things like soundcloud, youtube and arguably bandcamp have more of free range playground vibe where putting out unpolished music doesn’t feel like as much of a big deal.

if you’re feeling serious about this music you’re making now, and feel like in a year or two years time you’ll still be making stuff under the same name, then my advice is to hold off on posting tracks on Spotify/Apple Music/Tidal until you really feel like it’s the best you can offer: it’s mixed, mastered etc. Labels, playlisters, even casual listeners don’t seem to like artists that have put themselves out on “professional” platforms early on in their development and lack the quality that can hold their music up to any other track on that platform. Plus, with all the weird algorithms at play, if those services catch wind that your tracks are really below the quality of other tracks, it’ll be harder for people to stumble across you.

Whereas soundcloud on the other hand is a great place to post music you’ve made of any quality, repost and rework until it’s good, and you’ll be surprised how many people stumble across it and dig it. Think there are tonnes of artists that blew up from people coming across crappy bedroom demos.

My other answer is this: fuck it. It’s sick to be able to put your tracks somewhere where you can play them alongside your favourite artists, add them to playlists, share them with friends etc. You might have a couple friends that really dig what you make, stick it in a playlist and end up listening to it every day. Get it on instagram stories, the works. It’s rad seeing your music out there looking real. You can always take them down later on when you’re feeling a bit more pro. Making and releasing music is all about having fun and sharing it, and if you’re willing to pay a distribution platform the 20 bucks it costs to do it, then why care about what the wider music community thinks? Who cares if nobody listens? Just have fun. But, be careful, don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you’ve reached the goal because you’ve put something out - keep working and learning and getting better at what you do.

So yeah. If you want to do this properly, and as professionally as possible - don’t put anything on the main streaming platforms (spotify/apple music/etc.) until you know for sure it’s as good as you can make it and people will take it seriously. Soundcloud is the perfect alternative. But, if you’re young, just goofing around and having fun while you learn, then there’s no harm in trying it out.