Ringo makes about 1.5% off of the sales of Beatles recordings. This is one reason why he might be inclined to back digitally remastered releases and releases on new media. It becomes a fast revenue stream for him, Paul, and John, George, and Brian’s estates.
The other three bandmembers would receive royalties from other bands who cover the songs. Ringo and the rest of the Beatles would receive a royalty for their music used in entertainment media. This is why in movies, ads, and TV, often times you hear a famous song sung by a different singer; it allows them to pay only the composition royalty and not the recording artist royalty.
When the Beatles broke up, they knew that Ringo would be the worst off financially due to his having very few composition credits and not being a strong songwriter. Thus, they helped him with his early work, both musically and in songwriting.
They knew Ringo’s dilemma. If he came out with a solo album that was crap then everyone would believe that musically, he meant little to the Beatles. By helping him, the rest of the Beatles gave legitimacy to the recordings.
In fact, Ringo’s first solo hit – It Don’t Come Easy – was essentially a George Harrison track. George produced it, played guitar on it, oversaw the engineering, and wrote it based on Ringo’s basic idea for a song. He even recorded a guide vocal to show Ringo what inflection to use when singing it.
Edit based on some of the comments:
Back in the 70s and 80s when I was growing up, there were two great drummers: John Bonham and Keith Moon. Ringo? Everyone liked him. People didn’t talk about his drumming; just his personality. It was pretty well established that he would never be considered with the all-time greats. George Harrison, too. He was a decent guitar player who fit the Beatles well, but his guitar playing would never be considered with the likes of Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page. He just wasn’t that kind of guitar player.
Somehow, Beatles fans have placed Ringo up on a pedestal. Now he’s this great drummer who Moon and Bonham would have looked up to.
They didn’t. Ringo was very limited in his drumming based on his background. His influences were big band and early rock and roll, which every young English drummer started out playing. Meanwhile, Bonham was learning Jazz and classical music. Charlie Watts put out an album of Jazz songs and attended jazz meetings around the USA when on tour. Keith Moon was doing surfer music before surfer music was even a thing. Ringo pretty much stuck with what he knew.
And THEN, we hear about how great a songwriter Ringo was. He was not. As a solo artist, Ringo wrote two songs that any non-Beatles fan would even recognize on the radio. And one of those songs was mostly written by George.
Further Edit:
You know, if the Kinks had come out first we probably never would have heard of the Beatles. Your love for the Beatles is built more out of nostalgia than their actual music.
Further-Further Edit:
Ok, the remark about the Kinks was more tongue in cheek than anything else. It was meant for those Beatles fans who can’t help but claim that every Beatles song was better than any song ever written by any other band and each musician was better because they were in the Beatles and that makes them better.
However, one does need to listen to the Kinks sometimes. While the Beatles were singing about holding hands, Ray Davies was writing about topical issues. His lyrics are far more meaningful than almost anything Lennon and McCartney ever did.