Walk into a SELECTA night and look around. The average age is older than at a typical techno or pop electronic night. The 30-45 demographic is over-represented. This is not a bug, it is a feature of how the genre actually grew.

The age math

Drum and bass peaked culturally in the late 90s and again around 2012-2015. People who got into the genre during those peaks are now in their 30s and 40s. The newer generation discovers DnB at a smaller rate than they discover techno or pop electronic.

Why DnB retains older fans

The music rewards depth of listening more than novelty. Sub-genres reward dedicated study. You can grow inside DnB without ever exhausting the catalogue. Most other dance genres feel finite after a decade; DnB does not.

What it means for the scene

Older crowds have more money, more patience, more loyalty to specific promoters. They show up to small nights when nobody else does. They tip the bar. They do not ruin the dancefloor with phones. The trade-off is that the scene grows slower than purely youth-driven genres.