The name came from a song I wrote back in September 2014 (which is also in the process of being recorded).
I was reading a lot of research about people who download illegally and why they do it and how there is a percentage of these people (I think it was around 70%) who also spend money on content.
And I came up with the lyric line, “fast and free we reject the old ways, free spirits rising, ready to obliterate”.
The “fast and free” was in reference to why they download. “We reject the old ways” is in reference to how the record labels used to release recorded product with geo restrictions and all the other roadblocks their gatekeeper model gave them power to do.
“Free Spirits Rising” (FSR) is what I call the generation of kids born from 1995 onwards. They do what they want, they change their mind when they want to and they refuse to live with certainty, going against the grain and pushing boundaries.
I remember when I was a kid and everything was uncertain. I would ask questions, get told to go away, I would do things, fail at things and suddenly I realized that I had learned something or progressed forward.
Then as I grew up and attended school, I started to be conditioned to believe in comfort and certainty. Suddenly I graduate, get a job and I have debts. At this point in time, I am looking for something which is rock solid, something which will ensure I can pay the bills and I steer further away from the madness of uncertainty.
Ready to obliterate is in reference to the FSRs destroying the business models of the existing gate keepers only to have the techies save it.
The major labels controlled the industry because they had control of distribution.
Well Spotify and other streaming services control distribution these days and while Spotify had to negotiate with the powerful labels at first, the streaming service which has 100 million paying subscribers is now far more powerful than any label ever was.
So whatever leverage the labels had by holding so many copyrights of artists and popular songs is gone, because there is no way the labels can threaten to remove the songs they hold from the service again, as the labels only care about profits and Spotify, pays it the most.
And by that the first verse of the song was rewritten like this;
Fast and free, we reject the old ways, we accelerate into a new day
There is no time to hesitate and contemplate, free spirits rising, ready to detonate
Across the world we are unlocking doors
Free spirits rising, free spirits rising
Free Spirits Rising 
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