Royal Young

Publicist (they/them)

Royal Young is a non-binary artist, journalist, poet, and author.

They are Founder Fury Young’s older sibling, and witnessed the evolution of FREER Records since its beginnings as Die Jim Crow in 2013. Royal has been a strong supporter since day one.

Listening to the music of currently and formerly incarcerated FR artists inspired Young to become more engaged, and expand their worldview. Over the years, they developed personal relationships with early FR collaborators such as Leon Benson, Valerie Seeley, and prison music pioneer Maxwell Melvins.

In 2018, Young used their media-savvy to help FR get their first major placement in Rolling Stone. The following year, they enlisted the public support of Roxane Gay, Gloria Steinem, and Marky Ramone, as well as media placements, during the burgeoning label’s Kickstarter campaign. In part due to this visibility, Young helped FR raise over $50K from 335 backers around the world.

Young officially came on as FR’s publicist after this historic milestone. They started full-force, garnering features for the release of BL Shirelle's critically-acclaimed label debut album Assata Troi in Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Weekly, WNYC’s The Takeaway, Oxygen, Interview Magazine and Passion of the Weiss, among many others. 

Since then, Young has helped FREER Record's music and artists become an international movement, with coverage in some of the leading publications in the world, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Detroit Metro Times, The Marshall Project, Washington Post, BBC, Pitchfork, Colorado Public Radio, Swiss Public Radio, The Progressive, The Atlantic, Grammys.com, Mission Magazine, Amnesty International Magazine and FLOOD Magazine, among many others.

Young works intimately with our artists both inside and outside prison, providing media training, setting up interviews and making sure that our artists feel comfortable, safe, and have a positive experience of sharing their powerful music and personal stories. 

Young interfaces with editors and journalists to ensure our prison-impacted artists are covered with the empathy, nuance and humanity they deserve.