The organization of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) events has become a major export product in the Netherlands. In order to respond quickly to the new trends and needs, innovative forms of cooperation between producers are to be set up for the organization of exciting new events. A case study on how these EDM events are actually organised in the Netherlands shows that the best way to do it is through hybrid forms of organisation, which combine horizontal forms of organisation through the market and vertical forms through the hierarchy. As EDM events are characterised by much asset specificity, the perspective of transaction cost economics indicates why this industry relies on hybrid forms of organisation. Trust between the collaborating partners, intrinsic motivation to be professional in the design and creation of new, groundbreaking music sensations and an extensive use of social media play a key role in lowering the transaction costs in the dance industry.

The organization of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) events requires much flexibility, due to the need to be able to quickly respond to new market trends. It induces high specificity in organizing these events. Our case study for the Netherlands, which is the world's market leader in hosting these events, shows that hybrid forms of cooperation between producers facilitate this flexibility and adaptability. From the perspective of transaction cost economics this article focuses on the role of trust as governance tool of hybrid organizations. Trust between the collaborating event agencies has a reciprocal effect on perception of risk, therefore decreasing the need for comprehensive contractual governance or hierarchical control. We show that different types of trust can be sufficient as governance mechanism. The EDM event industry is a community-like creative sector in which calculative drivers such as repeated interaction and the importance of behavioural reputation add to trustworthiness between partners. In addition, social drivers such as a shared artistic vision lead to incentives to behave according to ex ante agreements in the design and creation of new, ground-breaking music sensations. From that perspective, we identify the factors that enhance the development of trustworthiness between partners in a hybrid organization.