Turning a Broken Guitar Into a Business

By Cindy Perman, CNBC Correspondent

NEW YORK (CNBC) -Everyone wants to create the next viral video, but once you reach that Holy Grail, the question becomes, how do you make money off of it?

Ask Dave Carroll.

You probably know him: He's the guy who flew United Airlines, found out when he landed that his $3,500 Taylor acoustic guitar (he's a professional musician) had been broken and got no help from the air carrier's parent, United Continental Holdings(UAL) , to pay for the repairs.

So Carroll uploaded a video to Google's(GOOG) YouTube called "United Breaks Guitars" that has been viewed more than 11 million times.

It's got a catchy chorus that really sticks with you:

United United --

You broke my Taylor guitar.

United United --

Some big help you are.

You broke and you should fix it.

Your liable just admit it.

I should've flown with someone else or gone by car...

And it stuck with United, too: He got nowhere after haggling with them to cover the $1,200 repair for nearly a year, but two days after the video went up on YouTube he got a call from United offering to pay him double that amount.

Not to mention, it stuck with Taylor: The company sent him two guitars to use in his next YouTube videos.

But by that time, it was a full on media frenzy and Carroll's inbox was blowing up.

"People were coming into my house like it was election night for a winning politician. Everyone was hugging and everyone was bringing finger sandwiches and casseroles," Carroll said.

He got 10,000 emails in those first few weeks, with people sharing their own customer-service nightmares.

"It wasn't just the millions that showed up to watch the video. It was the reaction and the energy behind it," Carroll said. "I realized that if I could get 10,000 emails that quickly, I could get a million."