Talk about the power of social media to make a point.

Peter chatted with musician Dave Carroll, whose music video “United Breaks Guitars” became an Internet sensation last month.

Read on for the whole story:

PG: I have to tell you, when I saw that video—I’m still howling. The production values are great, the story you tell is not so great, but it has to be told. So United makes you check your guitar, you get to your seat, and next thing you know you look out the window and what do you see?

DC: A woman who didn’t know we were musicians was sitting by the window and shouted, “Oh my god, they’re throwing guitars out there.”  My bass player looked up and sure enough the baggage handlers were being pretty rough with our guitars. I called over the flight attendant over and she physically held up her hand and said, “Don’t talk to me, talk to the gate agent outside.” Everybody I talked to after that said either they were not empowered to do anything, or they didn’t care.

PG: And this went on for almost a year.

Read our original story and check out the original video here: United Breaks Guitars, Passenger Gets Revenge on YouTube.

DC: About nine months. It happened in late March and in November I finally got a hold of someone by email, a real person who seemed to have some decision-making powers. We had about 10 email exchanges and finally she just said, “This is it, there’s going to be nothing you’re going to get out of United Airlines.”

PG: And that’s when you went into the studio.

DC: The tipping point was in that last email. I urged her to reconsider or to have United reconsider.  I said I’m a musician, and I’ve got options. So I’m going to make three videos about the experience and put them on YouTube. So this is just the first of the trilogy.

Get more information on airline baggage in our Luggage & Packing section.

PG: But did it get their attention?

DC: Within 24 hours of putting it on YouTube I got a call from United and they offered to give me some compensation. They offered me $1,200 in cash and $1,200 in flight vouchers. Which is more that what I had originally asked for: flight vouchers equivalent to the cost of the repair of the guitar.

PG: Did you accept?

DC: No, I didn’t. I said I had stopped looking for compensation in November, and I was following through on what I said I would do. Not for bargaining, but because they had shut down any negotiation or responsibility. The budget for everything was $150 to produce the songs and videos.

PG: I want to work with you!

DC: You can’t go to the well too many times, but my friends sure showed up for this project.

PG: So is the next video coming out?

DC: We just shot the second video called “United Song II.” We had 100 extras and a crew that was three times the size of the last one, and once again everybody donated everything.

Check out Dave Carroll’s Web site at www.davecarrollmusic.com.

To hear more, check out Hour 1 of Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio: Passenger Rights, United Breaks Guitars, Wildlife in Palos Verdes and Mexico Travel.

And for more online videos, don’t miss the official Peter Greenberg YouTube channel.