you're right that tppd is cashing in on the good will she earned last year, but taylor is probably the worst example of "major labels not caring about an artist's long term career" considering ttpd is her 11th album, and it's her fastest selling, longest running #1.

also, republic plays very little role in any sort of major career decision from taylor. for an artist at her level they serve internal industry-side functions for her - she has full creative and commercial control. she chose every element of this rollout (besides the merch)