Dave Carroll - United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media

Dave Carroll is a singer-songwriter and social-media innovator from Halifax, Canada. Following his 2009 YouTube music-video release called United Breaks Guitars, about his poor customer-service experience with United Airlines, Daves career blossomed, and he is now a highly sought-after performer, content creator, author, keynote speaker, and consumer advocate.

www.davecarrollmusic.com
www.sonsofmaxwell.com
dave@davecarrollmusic.com
twitter.com/DaveCarroll
facebook.com/DaveCarrollMusic

This book came about through the introduction of United Breaks Guitars to Wayne Dyer via his daughter Tracy, who operates UrbanJunket.com. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity. I am also extremely grateful to Hay House CEO Reid Tracy for having faith in an untested writer, and to his assistant, Stacey Smith, for never replying to my e-mails with the words You again? Thanks to Leon Nacson, also with Hay House, for the work we will do in Australia, and to Alex Freemon for overseeing the final edit. And of course, special thanks to Louise Hay for creating Hay House and giving my story a home.

I have been extremely fortunate to be surrounded by so many people who have believed in me and my goings-on before and since United Breaks Guitars. This list represents the tip of the iceberg, though, since the millions of people who tuned in and told their friends to watch UBG are responsible for my success. Thank you all.

Thank you to my wife, Jill, for her unwavering support and insight; my mom and dad for everything moms and dads do; and my brother, Don, for rooting for me in my good fortune. Other people who have gone beyond family, friendship, and the call of duty include: my grandmother Doreen Daley; my father-in-law, Brent Sansom; Janice Garden; Debbie, Wayne, and Brennah Pennell; Steve Stewart and the girls; Johanna Harrison; Julian Marentette; Scott Ferguson; Lara Cassidy; Steve Richard; Chris Pauley; Barb Richard; Joshua Young; Todd Murchie; Jimmy Inch; Chris Iannetti; Mike Hiltz; Christine Buiteman; Phil Salterio; Charlie Palmer; Karen Murdoch; Paula Robbins; Jamie Robinson; Jerry Douglas; Ray Legere; Kim Dunn; Jamie Gatti; Ian Sherwood; Ross Pierce; Tom McLellan Music; Ryan Moore; Chief Steve Comeau; Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency; MacFarlands rentals; Music Nova Scotia; Rob McGee; Brent Combs; Neal Alderson; Alyson Queen; Phil Holmes; Ian Cavanagh; Hugh Bray; Tim Hardy; Mike Campbell; Mickey Quase; George Heinrichs; Paul Sparkes; Mike Havard; Harland Suttis; Bob Taylor; Chalise Zolezzi; Robin Urbanski; David Meerman Scott; Chip Bell; Jeffrey Joffey; Frank McKenna; Jeffrey Gitomer; Keith Pearce; Lara Booth; Jason Mittelstaedt; Pierre Belanger; Judea Cassyn; Dr. Fronie Leroy; all of the extras in UBG2 and UBG3; Gene Simmons; Whoopi Goldberg; and Ms. Irlweg.

Special thanks to Josh Bernoff for his support, advice, and editorial contribution; and to the universe for introducing me to Simone Graham when I needed a dedicated editor.

ALSO BY DAVE CARROLL

CD Recordings

Perfect Blue (Dave Carroll)

Sunday Morning (Sons of Maxwell)

Among the Living (Sons of Maxwell)

Sailors Story (Sons of Maxwell)

Live at Tims House (Sons of Maxwell)

The Neighbourhood (Sons of Maxwell)

Bold Frontier (Sons of Maxwell)

Sons of Maxwell (Sons of Maxwell)

Congratulations, Dave. Your United Breaks Guitars video is widely lauded as one of the most important in Googles history!

That was the beginning of an e-mail I received from a Google employee nearly one year after posting my first YouTube music video, about a less-than-stellar experience with United Airlines. Given the billions of videos hosted on YouTube since its inception, that e-mail suggested to me that my $150 music-video project had literally become a one-in-a-billion experience!

The foundation of my story is in no way unique. I went through what anyone who has ever flown commercially has gone through: a bad customer-service experience with an airline. Today, though, anyone can share their story directly with a mass audience, and using social media, I shared mine in the best way I knew how: with a song and a music video called United Breaks Guitars.

On July 6, 2009, I was maintaining a successful career as a completely independent musician and singer-songwriter from Halifax, Canada. I had no manager, agent, publicist, record label, or distributor for my recordings. In addition to managing my own first solo CD recording in 2008, I had been totally self-contained for 20 years in a duo called Sons of Maxwell with my brother, Don.

On July 7, 2009, I was still all of those things, but change was on the way. The night before, I had uploaded my first music video to YouTube. People began tuning in and sharing my four-minute creation. Today, if you consider the total audience of the traditional and online media that covered my story, that video has reached more than 150 million people across the world, and it launched me into the midst of a full-scale media frenzy.

The ripples made by this simple and campy video have traveled from boardrooms to classrooms, and to anywhere an Internet connection can be found. It has established a benchmark within customer service for years to come and became a shining example of the power of social media.

In the year that followed the videos launch, my story was told in the worlds leading newspapers and daily news programs. It was featured on BBC, CNN, and all major U.S. broadcast networks. Ive appeared on ABCs The View and on Oprah Radio, and Ive been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone magazine, and Readers Digest. The Harvard Business School has done a case study on United Breaks Guitars, and dozens of books on customer service and social media include references to my experience to give context to their theses.

In September 2009, if you did a Google search of United Breaks Guitars, youd have pulled up over 20 million references online. This story has gone wide and deep. In July of that year, I had the number one most-watched YouTube music video in the world and the number six most-watched YouTube video of any kind. Yet like so many powerful things, it began with a simple idea.

ALTHOUGH THE VIDEO WAS LAUNCHED on July 6, 2009, the story behind United Breaks Guitars was born much earlier, during an airline trip from Halifax to Omaha on March 31, 2008. Sons of Maxwell had been hired to do a five-stop tour of Nebraska by the arts presenter for the state, the University of Nebraska.

To get there, we booked four flights with United Airlines, starting from Halifax and with a scheduled connection at OHare Airport in Chicago. If this is starting to sound a little like the theme song to Gilligans Island, it may be because the result is so similar. What should have been a routine business trip became a comedy of errors the likes of which far too many people continue to experience each day.

The band and I started our trip at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and checked in at the United Airlines counter. I was traveling with Don, bass player Mike Hiltz, and electric-guitar player Jon Park-Wheeler. I recall asking the agent at check-in if I could carry my guitars with me into the cabin and being told no.

I had never flown United before, but Canadas largest airline, Air Canada, has enforced a policy of checking musical instruments for as long as I can remember, so I didnt argue with the United agent who denied my request. I remember that I wasnt asked to sign a damage waiver for my guitars upon check-in. Many airlines compel musicians to sign a waiver that releases the airline from any liability should their instruments be destroyed in transit. United has that policy, but as Ive experienced with different carriers, it is not always enforced by their agents.