This isn’t super new, because Dave Carroll and his band Sons of Maxwell are already YouTube stars, but the “United Breaks Guitars” phenomenon has reached such levels that it begs scrutiny as a new kind of hybrid of citizen activism and savvy new media marketing.
Briefly, after witnessing United Airlines baggage handlers willfully abusing his guitar case out the window of a flight, singer/songwriter Carroll discovered that indeed his $3,000 Taylor guitar had been destroyed. His repeated entreaties to United to compensate him were passed around dismissively and rudely, prompting him to write a song about the experience and make a fun, low-budget video of said song. Then viral rules took over, and the video has been seen by at least four million people. United got embarrassed and offered at last to pay Carroll back. He declined the belated offer and asked instead the money go to charity, which it apparently has. And Sons of Maxwell are about to release two more song/video pieces about the experience.
The songs is far from brilliant. It won’t be the “Blowin’ In The Wind” of its generation. But there is something inspiring and infectious about the use of music and the internet to carry the message of the consumer victimized by the vast, impersonal corporation. Musicians have long known the arbitrary, inconsistent and often hostile policies and attitudes of airlines about musical instruments. Business-folk get to wheel their carry-on suitcases on airplanes but folk singers are usually forced into a guitar dilemma: a soft gig-bag that’s easy to transport and store but which would get confiscated and crushed in baggage or an armorized road case that’s impossible to carry on but not guaranteed to protect the instrument from careless baggage handlers. Even classical violinists have reportedly had to fight to retain possession of even their diminutive instruments on airlines, despite values of hundreds of thousands of dollars. I daresay every touring musician has a similar horror story.
Dave Carroll was arguably the first musician to turn this small but important cause into a message song, and his stroke of genius was to build an easily relatable story line around and about the incident into his music. He’s the star of his own little drama. It’s another example of my core belief about music marketing – that content is critical but context is more valuable.
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