licensing legal-terms
What is a gratis basis?
<p>From DistroKid's Lyric Agreement (emphasis mine):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>a. For good and valuable consideration (including any consideration
  set forth in the Distribution Agreement) you hereby grant to us, <em>on a
  gratis basis</em>, the non-exclusive, irrevocable, transferable and
  sublicensable right and license in perpetuity, throughout the universe
  to the following (and to sublicense the following rights, including
  without limitation to Digital Stores and to and in connection with any
  other third party services and products)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>What does this mean? Definitions I look up contain lots of terminology I don't understand, such as <a href="https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Gratis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"misfeasance"</a> or <a href="http://gratisbasis.com/?page_id=5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">don't really define the term legally</a>.</p>

<p>I'm particularly curious if this allows me to terminate this agreement at some point, or if this agreement is for forever.</p>

<p>(This post is only to provide a general definition of the word.  I am not telling you how to interpret the contract; you should consult a lawyer for that.)</p>

<p>"Gratis" means, as in the link you posted, "without reward or consideration".  It's basically a synonym for "free of charge".  "On a gratis basis" is just a longer way of saying the same thing.  The apparent meaning is simply that they are not going to pay you anything in exchange for the rights you are granting.</p>

<p>This phrase has nothing to do with whether the contract can be terminated, but the "irrevocable" and "in perpetuity" later on would seem to say that it can't be.</p>

<p>In the FreeDictionary definition, the definition of the word is just "without reward or consideration".  The following paragraph is a quote from a book that's only included to show an example of the word being used in a sentence.  It's not necessary to understand anything about "misfeasance".  (The second link is some weird blog that probably shouldn't be relied upon for any information whatsoever.)</p>
