Dave Carroll couldn't get compensation for damage to his guitar – until he named and shamed the airline in a YouTube video

Next time an airline loses or breaks your luggage, try shaming them with a song and a video. That's what a little-known Canadian country and western singer did after he claimed that his Taylor acoustic guitar had been damaged by baggage handlers at Chicago's O'Hare airport last year.

United Breaks Guitars has become a YouTube sensation and provided Dave Carroll with the biggest hit of his career. The song - which chronicles his vain year-long attempt to win compensation from United – has had almost 4m hits on YouTube and fans have been clamouring for the song at gigs where his band, Sons of Maxwell, has performed.

Once the video appeared and became a YouTube hit, United sat up and took notice. It offered to pay the cost of repairing his guitar and flight vouchers worth $1,200 (£700) but he told the airline to donate the sum to charity. "They definitely want this to go away," he said.

Sales of Sons of Maxwell's eight albums and Carroll's solo disc have increased from "one or two a day online to probably hundreds," he says, thanks to the viral smash. Other airlines have offered him free trips to experience their customer service and Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars personally telephoned, offering two guitars of Carroll's choice and props to use in a second video.

Yes, Carroll plans two more songs about his experience with United. The second song is about Ms Irlweg, the "unflappable" customer service rep at United who said last December that the "matter was closed." Carroll says the song will not be unkind to her. The third song in the trilogy, which will be about the outcome, is not yet written.

United, which has seen its share price tumble, could have spared itself this public relations humiliation if it had followed its own policy on customer service. United's website says: "In the air and on the ground, online and on the telephone, our customers have the right to expect – to demand – respect, courtesy, fairness and honesty from the airline they have selected for travel."