I moved to New York City in 1993 with big dreams and no connections. During the day I worked finance jobs at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Chase and MetLife to pay the bills. At night I drove into Manhattan to sit in at jam sessions and build relationships. That cycle went on for seven years.

My first real break was a bus and truck tour of “Footloose” in 2000. Non-union. I didn’t know much about contracts then. I was just glad to have the gig. What changed everything was tick, tick… BOOM! That show connected me with people who were plugged into the New York theater world, and eventually I started subbing on “Rent.” That’s when I got my first real education in what a union contract actually meant. I started to understand what I had access to and what I had been leaving on the table.

Nobody sat me down and explained any of it. I figured it out slowly, expensively, and usually after the moment had already passed.

Here’s what I’ve noticed over the years: too many musicians treat the union like a necessary evil. You join because you have to. You pay your dues. You move on. You don’t read the contracts carefully. You don’t ask about your pension credits. You don’t think about health insurance until you need it.

I get it. We got into this because we love music. The business side feels like a distraction. But that mindset can cost you, sometimes more than you realize.

Local 802 isn’t just a dues obligation. It’s infrastructure.

Under the collective bargaining agreement between Local 802 and the Broadway League, musicians in union productions have access to pension contributions, health insurance credits, and legal protections that most freelancers never see. Broadway is one of the few places in the music industry where being classified as an employee works in your favor. As Steve Singer, who has worked at the union and was a guest on the Broadway Drumming 101 podcast a few years ago, put it: “The union is there to protect you. If you’re on a union contract and not getting paid, they’ll back you up.”

That’s true. But protection only works if you know what you’ve earned and how to claim it.

When I held the drum chair at “Memphis: The Musical,” I was an employee of the Shubert Organization. At “Lady Day” at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, I was employed by Circle in the Square. At “Ain’t Too Proud,” I was on payroll at the Imperial Theatre. Each situation came with protections I had earned the right to understand.

Nobody is going to hand you a summary of what you’ve accumulated. You have to go find it. How many pension credits do you have? Are you vested yet? Do you even know what it takes to get there? Read your contracts before you sign them, not after something goes wrong, because by then it’s too late. Most musicians never do this. They assume someone is tracking it for them. Nobody is.

The musicians who get the most out of their membership treat it like the resource it is. They ask questions. They talk to their rep. They know their rights before they need to use them. That’s not a complicated formula. It just requires paying attention.

The same mindset that makes a great union member makes a great career. That connection is exactly what I wrote about in “Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career.”

The book is 336 pages built from 26 years inside this industry. It covers the business side of a theater career, the parts nobody teaches you. How relationships matter more than chops and why the most talented person in the room doesn’t always get the gig. How the subbing actually works and what contractors are really looking for. How to negotiate, how to incorporate, how to think about money and taxes, and how to understand and use the union benefits you’ve already paid into. There’s also a full section on what happens when your show closes, because it always does, and you need a plan for that moment before it arrives.

Every chapter connects personal experience to something you can act on. It’s written for any serious theater musician. Real information, not vague encouragement.

The book is at broadwayboundbook.com.

Most musicians who work in this industry know less about their own contract than the people who negotiated it. You did the work to get here. Do the work to protect it.

Personal essays published in Allegro (including MEMBER TO MEMBER) do not necessarily represent the opinions of the union or its members, officers or staff. To give feedback on this article or submit something to Allegro for consideration, send to allegro@local802afm.org.