Miffed Guitarist's Video Goes Viral

A Canadian musician has become an Internet sensation after posting a song on YouTube about United Airlines breaking his guitar.

Dave Carroll's video for the song "United Breaks Guitars" was posted on site earlier this week and has received more than a million hits.

Carroll said on "The Early Show" Friday his song got six hits the night he posted it, and he was impressed by that number.

"I didn't expect this to happen," Carroll told "Early Show" guest anchor Chris Wragge.

"I was thinking I'd definitely get some action on (YouTube) because the song has been resonating so well with audiences as I've been performing it, but I didn't know it would take off like this," Carroll told the Associated Press.

Carroll, a guitarist for the pop-rock group Sons of Maxwell, has since been fielding calls for appearances around the world, including a call from the Oprah Winfrey show Thursday.

On "The Early Show", Carroll said Thursday night he returned home to an inbox full of 1,000 e-mails.

The song recounts Carroll's yearlong struggle to get compensation for what he calls "a vicious act of malice" at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago last year.

Carroll was flying between Halifax and Nebraska when he switched planes in Chicago. The passenger next to him noticed baggage handlers tossing guitar cases outside the plane.

Carroll's Taylor guitar, worth $3,500, required $1,200 in repairs. He said it still doesn't play the way it used to, but he keeps it for sentimental reasons.

"It's not so much the money," he told Wragge. "It's about the sentimental value. It's a beautiful instrument. I've had it for over 10 years, and played in on all of (my recordings). So, the songs I'm most proud of we written on that guitar."

The 41-year-old songwriter spent the past year trying to get compensation from United Airlines, including flight vouchers to compensate for the repair costs. When the airline refused to take responsibility, the songwriter made the humorous music video and posted it online.

Carroll said on "The Early Show" posting the video was his "Michael Moore moment."

Taylor Guitars in California has said they'd be happy to see if they could repair the damaged guitar. They also promised a big discount on his next purchase.

United also called to say it wants to discuss the situation. Carroll said officials for the airline said they liked the video and want to use it as a textbook case on how to handle customer complaints in the future.

Carroll said if he hadn't made the video, he probably wouldn't have heard from the airline about the incident.

He said, "I'm sure I wouldn't have (gotten a phone call). I was told that I would never hear from them again."

The video shows friends dressing up as flight attendants and musicians. Volunteer firefighters played the baggage handlers who are shown playing catch with the guitar case and tossing it like a hammer throw.

Carroll told Wragge, "I just wanted to have a fun experience with this."

Carroll said on "The Early Show" he doesn't have any hard feelings for the airline, but he still plans to release two more songs on YouTube about the experience. He said his second song has received good responses from live audiences in recent months. The song is about lighthearted look at his interactions with an airport employee.

But Carroll said the United employee is getting "more heat than she deserves," calling her a "a great employee" and a "worthy adversary."